Thousands of eligible victims or their families will receive £100,000 by today as an interim payment, the government has confirmed.
It comes after a report published in July by infected blood inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff said the interim payments should be made “without delay”.
Survivors and bereaved partners should have received letters already confirming their amount and individual payment date, but campaigners say most bereaved families are not eligible.
The scandal has been labelled the worst treatment disaster in NHS history.
Patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products imported from the US. It is thought about 2,400 people died as a result.
One victim, Gary Webster, told Sky News he has not received a letter or email to inform him that he will be receiving the £100,000 compensation, though he is definitely eligible.
In response, a government spokesperson told Sky News: “As we announced in August, payments are being made to any eligible beneficiary registered with one of the four UK-infected blood support schemes.
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“Emails and letters have been sent by the support groups directly to their members. We ask anyone who has not received any communication to contact the scheme they are registered with.”
However, some bereaved family members will not be receiving any compensation – and feel they should have. This includes children and parents of infected blood victims who have passed away.
To this, the government spokesperson said the interim compensation payments to infected individuals and bereaved partners meet the recommendations set out by Sir Brian in his interim report “in full”.
But they added that “more work is being done” to consider the broader eligibility recommendations made by Sir Robert Francis QC and will respond to the recommendations of Sir Brian’s Inquiry once it concludes.
‘Thirty years too late’
Mark Ellis, whose father died from infected blood, is one of the bereaved family members who will not be receiving compensation.
He has suffered for more than 30 years after his father’s death due to due to keeping the circumstances a secret – resulting in being diagnosed with PTSD disorder.
“It should have been paid 30 years ago. Thirty years too late. I’m glad the infected are getting it, but I believe they could have gone further, and could have paid more, the way I put it is that the dead paid the ultimate price,” he said.
Meanwhile, Infected Blood survivor Steve Finney says he has survivor’s guilt, and wants families of victims to be compensated too, but is conscious it will come from the “public pocket”.
“They’ve been thrown under the bus and forgotten about. It’s the people that have had no recognition or very little recognition. Certainly not the recognition they deserve over the decades. And this is decades that we’re talking about here.
“Any six-figure, seven-figure compensation… divide it by the number of decades and years and it’ll give you an idea… that that’s not actually that much.”
Kate Burt, chief executive of the Haemophilia Society, said “we’ve got a long way to go”.
“The inquiry will conclude its hearings in the early part of 2023. The report should come out in the middle of the year, and we need an immediate response from the government.
“Because as I say, people are dying every single week, and not knowing whether they’re going to be included in the compensation.
“And it’s not just about money. It’s about the acknowledgement of what happened.”
