Victims of the infected blood scandal have “not been listened to” by ministers, the chair of the inquiry has said in a report urging an overhaul of the compensation system.
The additional report lays bare the failings of the government’s detailed compensation scheme, and sets out recommendations to make it fairer and faster. In particular, it criticises ministers for designing the scheme without consulting the scandal’s victims, as was recommended in the inquiry’s May 2024 report, which it says has led to “obvious injustices” that could have been avoided.
Sir Brian Langstaff, the chair of the infected blood inquiry, who authored the report, said: “For decades people who suffered because of infected blood have not been listened to. Once again decisions have been made behind closed doors leading to obvious injustices.
“The UK government has known for years that compensation for thousands of people was inevitable and had identified many of those who should have it. But only 460 have received compensation so far and many, many more have not even been allowed to begin the process.”
More than 3,000 people have already died after 30,000 were given contaminated blood products or transfusions from the 1970s to the early 90s. Campaigners have said many more risk dying without justice.
Langstaff recommended that affected people be able to apply for compensation rather than having to wait to be asked, and that applications for people nearing the end of their life, such as those who are older or seriously ill, be prioritised.
He also asked that the government reconsider some of the limits it has placed on the scheme, including the exclusion of people infected with HIV before 1982 – a cut-off he said had been introduced without “any explanation” – as well as the high bar for evidencing psychological harm, which requires six months of psychiatric treatment, and limiting claims from victims of medical experimentation to those who were treated in specific hospitals.
The report also recommended greater compensation for people who were treated for hepatitis with interferon, a drug known to result in severe, life-changing side-effects including psychosis, depression and suicide.
He further urged the compensation authority to act with greater transparency and openness, to involve infected people and their affected family members in decisions about how the scheme operates, and to implement a stronger complaints mechanism.
Langstaff criticised the “sluggish pace” of the scheme, which had resulted in “grave concern regarding the delay in compensation being delivered”, and “the lack of any clear timescales”, which he said had left people in limbo and experiencing “a significant degree of distress and anxiety”.
He highlighted how the expert group informing the scheme’s design had been explicitly “precluded from direct contact with anyone who had been infected or affected”, and noted that the timing of the 2024 election had limited engagement with these groups and reduced the time the government had to consider proposals in the final report.