Furious victims of the infected blood scandal have said that just 10 out of 4,000 people have received compensation under a new scheme, despite pledges from the Conservatives and Labour to sort out payments this year.
Campaigners say they have been “disengaged” by the Labour government and that, by this month, just 17 people out of the thousands eligible had been invited to register for compensation.
Five groups representing victims met officials dealing with claims last week, only for the meetings to end with those in attendance feeling they were being treated as a nuisance, rather than victims of a scandal from which they had suffered greatly.
About 3,000 people died as a result of contaminated blood in commercial products designed for haemophiliacs and blood transfusions in the 1970s and 1980s. A damning inquiry report by Brian Langstaff, published last May, found the scandal could have been largely avoided. There have been various previous compensation schemes for victims but Langstaff recommended a more comprehensive scheme should be set up immediately, with bigger payouts.
Andrew Evans, chair of the group Tainted Blood, who was told aged 12 that he had contracted HIV from a contaminated blood product, said: “When the infected blood inquiry published its final report, the entire community breathed a collective sigh of relief. … we dared hope, for just a moment, that our decades of battling was coming to an end, and that compensation would now be swiftly forthcoming.
“With the promise that all of the infected would be paid before the end of 2024, followed swiftly in 2025 by the estates of those who have died and affected relatives in their own right, campaigners and the community hoped that the finish line was in sight, and all that remained would be a series of formalities.
“Since then, we have been disengaged by the government, and the goalposts have been drastically moved to the point where now, just before Christmas, only a quarter of one per cent of the infected have been offered compensation.
“Our battle, rather than ceasing, has intensified. The community, already heavily traumatised, is at breaking point. We, the campaigners, bear the burden of attempting to explain what is going on, although we have little more idea of that ourselves, and supporting thousands of devastated victims.”
Evans added: “People are still dying at the rate of two per week as a result of their infections.” Lack of progress “has real-world implications,” he said. “By the end of March 2025, the projection is that 250 people will be offered compensation. From the inquiry’s report until then, it’s estimated that another 80 infected people will have died without ever seeing justice.
“Not only are the infected dying, but due to the length of time it’s taken to get this far, parents, siblings and partners of the infected are aging and dying themselves. We are left to wonder exactly what we must do to make the government act swiftly and responsibly. We are exhausted after our 40-plus-year fight.”
The chair of the all-party parliamentary group on the scandal, the Labour MP Clive Efford, said he felt appalled at last week’s meetings. “People were treated like children: only one person per organisation was able to speak, for a maximum of four minutes. It felt like the meetings were token gestures and only succeeded in making people more angry.”
Efford added: “This is an early test for ministers and civil servants to behave with a duty of candour to victims of state injustices. When Sir Brian Langstaff’s final report was published, the campaigners thought they had won the war over the state, but they now feel that the state is back in charge and ignoring the report.
“Sir Brian also recommended that organisations that had supported the victims through the inquiry should be given resources to continue to support them in making claims for compensation, and there are no signs of this happening. Meanwhile, these organisations are struggling under the weight of calls for help.”
Kevin Roberts, 52, from Hayle, Cornwall, is one of the victims of the scandal who gave evidence to the inquiry and fears he may never receive compensation. He has faced a battle to obtain the historical medical records showing how he was infected as a young child. “I was infected with hepatitis A, B and C and have not received a single penny,” he said. “We think they are going to drip money to us as slowly as possible. I’ve not even been registered as an applicant. I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
The paymaster general and minister for the cabinet office, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said: “The prime minister and I have always been determined to deliver justice for the victims of the infected blood scandal after decades of injustice, and are going further than any other government has before. We set up the arm’s-length Infected Blood Compensation Authority. The budget allocated £11.8bn for the victims, and final payments have already started to be made.
“There has been over £1bn in interim payments paid to those infected and to estates of those infected who have died. We will continue doing everything we can to deliver justice for victims as swiftly as possible.”
