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Written question asked by Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 27 March 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 14 April 2026. It was answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour) on Thursday, 9 April 2026 on behalf of the Cabinet Office.


Infected Blood Compensation Scheme

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the consequences of people who died as a result of infected blood being paid less under the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme than those who are still alive.

Answer

An infected person’s compensation (while living or as an estate) is calculated in line with five Categories of Award to recognise and compensate for the impacts of the infected blood scandal in different areas of a person’s life - these are an Injury Award, Social Impact Award, Autonomy Award, Care Award and Financial Loss Award. For the first three (Injury, Social Impact and Autonomy) the award amounts are the same whether someone applies to the scheme for compensation whilst they are still alive, or whether a personal representative of their estate makes an application.

Where an infected person has passed away before they have applied to the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), the estate will be able to make a claim on the infected person’s behalf. In that claim, financial loss from the point of infection to the point of the infected person’s death will be paid to the estate. This recognises the loss of earnings that a person likely suffered because of their illness. Financial loss is not paid to the estate for any years after the year of that person’s death. This is because the person cannot have had reduced earnings after they passed away. Instead, those who were financially dependent on them at the point of their death will have suffered from the reduced earnings caused by their death.

The Cabinet Office has carried out analysis under the Public Sector Equality Duty for all regulations made to establish the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme. The most recent analysis was published in October.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL16143
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Infected blood compensation scheme
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk