Minister urged to listen to compensation concerns

Written by Jessica Bomford, January 29, 2026

Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, the minister with responsibility for implementing the Infected Blood Inquiry’s recommendations, visited the Haemophilia Society’s office today to hear more about our members’ views on the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme.

Mr Thomas-Symonds was accompanied by Ellie Nicholson, director of the Cabinet Office’s Public Inquiry Response Unit and two other officials. The meeting was an informal discussion about THS’s submission last week in response to the government’s proposed changes to the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme.

Kate Burt, THS Chief Executive, told Mr Thomas-Symonds that the community was ‘fatigued’ and ‘anxious’ about uncertainties in the compensation process. Debra Morgan, who leads THS’s public inquiry team, said it was traumatising for those infected and affected to have to repeat their experiences and that the expectation was that government needed to listen and act on the information it now has.

It was acknowledged that recent changes to Inheritance Tax rules on compensation had been a positive action from government.

The THS team, including staff, trustees and Chartered Financial Planner, Sam Richards, highlighted the following issues:

  • The need for recognition of the impact of interferon treatment for hepatitis C
  • The need to substantially increase the Unethical Research Award
  • Unacceptable, large disparities between payments to estates and the living infected, based on financial loss calculations
  • Concerns from families of the deceased that their needs had been overlooked in the government’s consultation
  • Concerns about disputes regarding wills and intestacy and the need to offer people free mediation and advice options.

Kate told Mr Thomas-Symonds that funding for THS from the Department of Health and Social Care had not yet been confirmed and emphasised the need for reliable multi-year funding.

Mr Thomas-Symonds explained that the government would now take up to 12 weeks to consider the responses to the compensation consultation, but did not rule out making updates during that period. He said he was aware of the need to keep the community informed about the government’s proposed actions.

We were pleased to have the chance to talk to the minister and his team directly about some of the key issues raised by our members and hope further meetings will follow.