Just 10 of 4,000 tainted blood victims have had compensation, campaigners say

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.

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.”

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 22 December 2024