Earlier today, the UK Government released an update on the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, ahead of the Parliamentary deadline for regulations to be made by August 24th.
The published documents include Sir Robert Francis’ report with his recommendations following engagement with the community, along with the Government’s response to his report. Additionally, the Government has released the Expert Group’s Final Report, which provides more details on the advice given to the Cabinet Office regarding compensation bands and tariffs. This report reflects the Group’s consideration of Sir Robert’s recommendations following the engagement events in June 2024.
The documents can be found at the links here:
Government Update on the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme: 16 August 2024
Infected Blood Compensation Authority: Recommendations of Sir Robert Francis August 2024
Infected Blood Inquiry Response Expert Group Final Report August 2024
Of the 74 recommendations made by Sir Robert within his report, the Government have accepted all but five (recommendations 9, 11, 31, 38 and 40). The rejected recommendations include potential revisions to the amounts for support scheme payments and changes to the method of calculating the value and process of care awards within the scheme.
With the vast majority of recommendations accepted by the Government, several changes to the proposed scheme have been made, including:
- Support payments to both living infected individuals and bereaved partners will continue for life, whether through the existing schemes or once merged into the IBCA for those registered with a support scheme before 1st April 2025.
- Support Scheme payments received after 1st April 2025 will be taken into account in assessing future financial loss and care awards.
- The compensation scheme now also includes what is termed a health impact supplementary route to compensation. This will provide more financial support for infected people with health conditions not recognised within the core framework. It includes those in the SIBSS category of “Severely Affected Hepatitis C”.
- Additional autonomy awards have been added for individuals who were subjected to unethical research, as detailed in the Infected Blood Inquiry.
- Legal support and administration fees for estate claims will be covered, with support for a mediation service for disputes over estate distribution.
- The Government has been asked to clarify the taxation aspects of compensation awards to help claimants.
- Funding will be provided for legal and financial advice to all applicants.
Whilst these address several of the concerns raised by Haemophilia Scotland and its members during the consultation process, many questions remain unanswered. The Government is expected to publish an “Explainer Document” early next week which is intended to help make the changes to the scheme and the tariffs easier to understand.
The regulations will be implemented in two phases to allow the IBCA to establish the compensation service:
- Regulations will be made next week by the deadline of 24th August. These will be specifically for the core route for infected members.
- The second phase of regulations will be made later and cover the core for affected individuals and create the supplementary route which all applicants can personalise their claims on the basis that the core route does not reflect their position.
Applications for interim payments to the estates of deceased infected individuals not yet recognised are still scheduled to begin in October.
We will continue to update our members as new developments arise.