Only 0.002% of possible claimants invited to seek infected blood payout – lawyer

Only 0.002% of potential claimants to the infected blood compensation scheme have been invited to seek payouts and “many will die” while they wait, a lawyer representing families and victims of the scandal has said.

Des Collins, whose firm Collins Solicitors has advised thousands of people affected, said the scheme is not yet able to cope with “anywhere near” the volume of applications it should be processing.

It comes after the authority overseeing compensation said the service was “starting small” because of the complexity of some of the cases, but that it would speed up as well as widen access for more claimants from April.

The Government approved legislation last August for claims to be made for those infected, by the end of 2024, with a second set of regulations to enable payouts expected to be introduced in March.

By mid-January, 67 people had been asked to start their claim, and another 250 people are expected have their claims looked at by the end of March, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) said.

The service will be developed to take claims from groups in the following order:

– Living infected people who are already registered with a support scheme, for whom payments are already under way.

– Supplementary claims, where additional impacts are recognised beyond the core compensation.

– Claims on behalf of registered estates.

– Those affected and linked to a registered infected person or registered estate.

– People infected but not registered with a support scheme.

– People who are affected and not linked to a registered claim.

The announcement drew criticism from representatives of victims and those affected by the scandal, who said that regulations “do not translate into meaningful support on the ground”.

“The reality is that the IBCS is not yet able to cope with anywhere near the volume applications for compensation that will cater for the infected blood community,” Mr Collins, senior partner at Collins Solicitors, said.

“Only 0.002% of potential claimants have so far been invited to make a claim. The next 250 invitations are also a fraction of the total potential number of claimants and so many will die while they wait to be invited to start the process of bringing their claim.”

Some £11.8 billion has been earmarked for compensation, but Mr Collins said that accessing this fund is “hugely complicated and not as straightforward as a press release makes it sound”.

He also criticised the former government for not having worked “at pace” to be ready last May for the final report by Sir Brian Langstaff, who chaired the inquiry into the scandal, seen as the worst in NHS history.

More than 30,000 people who received NHS treatment between the 1970s and early 1990s were infected with contaminated blood. Many contracted a number of viruses including hepatitis C and HIV.

Some 3,000 died as a result and survivors are living with lifelong health implications.

“Regulations give the impression of wider access but the reality is that they won’t actually speed up the compensation process one jot,” Mr Collins said.

“We call on the Government to rethink its approach to the way in which the scheme is being delivered so that victims can get the financial justice they deserve as swiftly as possible.”

IBCA said that members of the infected blood community were asked for their views on the order in which different groups could claim, with feedback reviewed through emails, letters, calls and social media.

The authority said that “where possible” it took the opinions on board and would now widen the claim service in stages to begin paying compensation to more people as soon as possible.

People were approached to make the first set of claims in October last year, with compensation offers totalling more than £13 million by January this year, according to IBCA.

David Foley, interim chief executive of the authority, said: “Every single compensation claim is unique with complex circumstances. That is why we started with a small number of people making the first compensation claims, building and improving the claim service as we go.

“We’re continuing that approach as we open up our service to more people with a range of different types of claims, so we can get a better understanding of their circumstances and design the service with everyone’s needs in mind.

“As we have already tested the service for those who are infected and registered with a support scheme, we will also accelerate the number of claims we’re processing in this group.

“We asked community members for their views, as it is only by understanding the needs of each person applying for compensation and working with the community that we’re able to open our service to more and more people.

“We are confident that starting small and testing as we go will deliver compensation for everyone eligible more quickly overall, and I’m pleased that we are now able to increase claims further in 2025.”