At least £100,000 must be paid to all infected blood victims and relatives in the UK, the chair of the investigation into the tragedy said.
The compensation must be provided “without undue delay”, Sir Brian Langstaff wrote in a letter to Paymaster General Michael Ellis on Friday.
The chairman said he made the recommendation in light of the investigation into evidence of “deep physical and mental suffering” caused by the scandal.
The inquiry was set up to investigate how thousands of patients in the UK were infected with hiv and hepatitis C via contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.
About 2,400 people died in what has been described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.
In the letter, which accompanies an interim report on compassionate payments, Sir Brian said: “After considering the submissions and considering the evidence, this inquiry has heard of serious physical and mental suffering from a wide range of backgrounds. , from a variety of places and in different personal circumstances, I was happy to make this report.”
The compensation would have to be paid to “all those infected and all next of kin currently registered with UK infected blood support programmes, and those who register between now and the start of a future scheme”, he added.
There are 2,007 core participants in the study who are infected or affected, but it is not known if all of these people are eligible for compensation.
Research is still ongoing to estimate the total number of surviving infected blood victims.
We look forward to the day when all victims of this scandal are duly compensated for their suffering and those whose decisions have resulted in the destruction of countless innocent lives being held accountable
Sir Brian apologized to those who do not fall into one of the two categories of people included in his recommendation, but said the work of the investigation continues and the issue of compassionate payments remains open.
“I know this will be disappointing to some of you who fall into neither category and I apologize for that,” he said.
The Government does not have to accept Sir Brian’s proposal, but in 2021 Matt Hancock said it would “of course” pay a fee if the research recommended it.
The then health minister told the inquiry that the government had a “moral responsibility” to deal with the impact of the scandal.
A government spokesman said it would consider the former Supreme Court the judge’s report with “the utmost urgency” and “respond as soon as possible”.
“The government is grateful to Sir Brian Langstaff for his interim report on interim compensation for victims of contaminated blood,” the spokesman said.
“We recognize how important this will be for people infected and affected in the UK and can confirm that the Government will consider Sir Brian’s report and Sir Robert Francis QC’s recommendations with the utmost urgency and respond as quickly as possible .”
I hope they are doing the right thing now. You can’t bring back the dead, but at least you can make the life of the living more comfortable and less stressful
Sue Threakall, whose husband Bob died in 1991 after contracting HIV from treatment for haemophilia, said victims and relatives were “holding their breath” for the government to “do the right thing.”
“We knew from the start that something was horribly wrong,” she told the PA news agency.
“People have said they’re afraid to even get excited about (the compensation) because we can’t believe it’s going to happen.
“We’ve been put up and then let down so many times – we were made to look like liars, to look like fools, and the evidence coming out today confirms what we’ve been saying all along.
“I am shocked that successive governments have dragged this along for over 40 years when they knew the truth.
“I hope they’re doing the right thing now. You can’t bring back the dead, but at least you can make life more comfortable and less stressful for the living.”
The impact of the tragedy on Ms. Threakall, who has been campaigning to draw attention to the scandal since 1985, and her family is hard to overstate.
“My own son said to me, ‘I lost both my parents because of this – I lost my father to AIDS and I lost you to the campaign,'” she said.
“We are all currently holding our breath and waiting to see what the government will do.”
Des Collins, senior partner at Collins Solicitors, which represents families affected by the scandal, said the report was a “welcome development” but compensation had long been due.
“These immediate interim payments for some of the most vulnerable will finally provide financial compensation that many of those who suffer have owed for decades,” he said.
“While it comes too late for the thousands who have died tragically in the intervening years since they were infected, it is a welcome development for some of those who are still living with the dire consequences of this preventable treatment failure.”