Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2024
Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2024 — plain-English summary
- What it is: A UK law (SI 2024/872) creating a compensation scheme for people affected by the infected blood scandal, under the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024.
- When it started: Made on 22 August 2024 and came into effect on 23 August 2024.
- Core route (main way to claim):
- Who can be paid: Living or deceased people who received NHS or armed forces treatment overseas involving blood, blood products, or tissue that could transmit HIV, hepatitis B, or hepatitis C.
- How payments work: Choices include a single lump sum or regular payments (monthly) over 5, 10, or 25 years.
- Up-rating: Regular payments can be increased with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to offset inflation.
- Key condition for core route: The applicant must not be registered with the Infected Blood Support Scheme (IBSS) to receive core-route payments.
- Estate claims: If the person has died, their personal representative can claim on the estate. The estate awards are typically lump sums.
- IBSS route (alternative path for those already in IBSS):
- Keeps ongoing IBSS payments for the recipient’s lifetime.
- From 1 April 2025, IBSS payments become compensation payments under the new scheme.
- Future financial loss and future care awards are combined to fund ongoing payments.
- Can also be paid as periodic payments (5, 10, or 25 years) or lump sums in certain cases.
- Personal representatives can claim on behalf of a deceased person under this route.
- Distress/autonomy award: A new type of compensation to recognise distress caused by lack of informed consent or interference with personal autonomy (for example, not being told about HIV or hepatitis testing).
- Evidentiary standard: Decisions are made on the balance of probabilities (the usual civil-law standard).
- Who helped shape or criticized it: There was praise for creating a formal compensation framework, but concerns were raised about how payment levels were set and the quality of the accompanying explanatory information.
- 2024–2025 developments:
- A later report noted a math error in the 2024 formula that underpaid some awards; a 2025 draft regulations intended to fix this.
- The Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee criticized the 2024 explanatory memorandum as being hard to understand and lacking detail.
- A second phase (the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2025) was introduced to widen the scheme and convert IBSS payments into compensation; there was some debate about whether this 2025 move revokes the 2024 rules, though the goal was to keep policy the same.
- Parliamentary approval: The instrument required and received positive Parliament approval in October 2024.
In short: The 2024 Regulations created two main routes to compensation for infected blood victims and their families—the core route for those not in IBSS and the IBSS route for those already receiving IBSS support—plus a new distress award, with provisions for estate claims and periodic or lump-sum payments, and plans for a follow-up phase to expand and adjust the scheme.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:57 (CET).