Yesterday, 21 May 2024, the Minister for the Cabinet Office John Glen delivered a statement on the new Infected Blood Compensation Scheme. Later that same day, a range of documents were published on the UK Government website providing more detail. We have identified some potential conflicting information but are not at this stage able to give definitive advice to members. Any advice we give would be subject to confirmation with government and the Infected Blood Compensation Authority. We will of course be making representations on behalf of our members on any issues of concern.
This is a rapidly evolving situation, and we will respond to queries as soon as possible. One of the queries raised is whether the current support schemes will continue once full compensation is paid. We can at this stage only reiterate what we have picked up from John Glen’s speech in the Commons and a summary document on compensation published on the UK Government website.
John Glen’s speech to Parliament
“No immediate changes will be made to the support schemes. Payments will continue to be made at the same level until 31st Mach 2025 and they will not be deducted from any compensation awards. From 1st April 2025, any support scheme payments received will be counted towards a beneficiaries’ final compensation award.
This will ensure parity between support scheme beneficiaries, regardless of whether they were the first or the last to have their compensation assessed by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority. We will ensure that no-one, receives less in compensation than they would have received in compensation payments.”
Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Summary
“The (compensation scheme) will compensate for both past and future losses suffered as a result of infected blood. This will mean that, for the first time, payments to those who have suffered as a result of infected blood will be on a single statutory basis that applies across the UK.
The establishment of the scheme will not have any immediate impact on the support payments received through the infected blood support schemes (IBSS). The eligibility criteria for the IBSS will not be impacted by the scheme.
IBSSs are delivered separately in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and divisions on individual schemes will be for the devolved administrations.
Payments will continue to be paid, at the same level, via the IBSS and on an ex-gratia basis until 31 March 2025. This means that any payments received before and up to 31 March 2025 will not be deducted from compensation awarded through the new Scheme. After this point, from 1 April 2025, people who receive IBSS payments will continue to receive payments until such time that their case is assessed under the new Scheme by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA). Once assessed under the Scheme, the applicant will be able to choose how to receive their compensation (lump sum or periodic payments).
The IBCA will not be able to assess all cases at the same time. Therefore, to ensure a fair and consistent approach over the transition from the IBSS to the new Scheme, any IBSS payments received from 1 April 2025 will be deducted from a person’s total compensation award.
In the event that the IBCA assesses that a person is entitled to less compensation through the (Compensation) Scheme than would have otherwise been paid to them through continued IBSS support payments, an additional top-up payment will be provided to bring the compensation they receive up to the level of the support payments. This will ensure that no one will receive less compensation through the Scheme than the payments they would have otherwise been entitled to through existing schemes. Any top-up payment awarded will take into account other compensation payments that a person has received through the Scheme, either in their own right or as an estate beneficiary.”
Our initial conclusion from this is that for England there seems to be an intention to stop the Support Scheme payments once compensation has been paid. The schemes are operated by the devolved nations, so there would – it would appear – be an option for Scotland (and Wales and Norther Ireland) to continue the support schemes. We will need to check the Scottish Government’s intention on this.
The most concerning aspects are (a) what is intended to be a UK wide compensation scheme may not have an equal effect across the UK if some nations continue with support scheme payments and some do not. Also, as some have already observed, if support scheme payments are simply to be replaced by compensation, the sums received may simply be equivalent to the support scheme payments over time and not be compensation at all.
We will need to explore this issue further with government and the Infected Blood Compensation Authority.