Infected blood victims could get up to £2.8m in compensation, a minister said on Friday, but one haemophiliac who was treated as a "guinea pig" in a notorious school blasted the revised settlement as "insulting".
The new Labour Government announced that it was updating plans announced by the Conservatives in May to ensure payouts for victims of the scandal, which followed the publication of a blistering report by an official inquiry.
They can now receive support for life, while those who were subjected to “unethical” research will get up to £15,000 extra.
The payouts will start by the end of the year for survivors, and by next year for others affected such as family members.
Paymaster General Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “Now of course no amount of money can ever make up for what happened there or indeed what has happened to people across the community or people who've lost children and other relatives, of course not.”
But addressing victims’ fears that the scheme could be delayed after last month’s election, the Cabinet minister said the Government was pressing ahead with the recommendations of Sir Brian Langstaff’s inquiry.
“So for example someone with haemophilia who then contracts HIV and say Hepatitis C could get compensation of up to £2.8 million,” he told Times Radio, urging anyone who has yet to register for support to come forward.
Some 3,500 infected people have registered along with 950 bereaved partners, but more than 3,000 others have died in the decades since they were treated with infected blood products.
Mr Thomas-Symonds said the total cost of the package will only become clear when Chancellor Rachel Reeves announces her budget on October 30, “because there is still work to do on that”.
“But as I say that money will not make up for the horrific experiences people have been through."
Richard Warwick attended Treloar's boarding school in Hampshire between 1976 and 1982, where he says haemophiliac children like him were taken from all over the country to be exploited as “guinea pigs” for experimental treatments.
He was infected with hepatitis B at the age of 10 and contracted HIV in 1978, but was not told until 1984, and later he and his wife felt compelled to abort their unborn baby to avoid passing the HIV on.
Mr Warwick said that surviving pupils were looking at legal advice in response to the compensation plan.
“I don’t know where they’ve plucked the [£15,000] figure from but we all think it is derisory and insulting,” he said.
