---

Infected Blood Compensation Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2026

My Lords, we must never lose sight of why we are here to debate these regulations. The infected blood scandal was a catastrophic failure of the state. It is a tragedy measured not only by the pain and suffering of its victims but by the decades it took for the suffering to be recognised. The victims in the scandal have suffered unspeakably, and the former Prime Minister, when leader of the Opposition, acknowledged the suffering caused by continued systemic failure. Our new Prime Minister has long supported the infected blood community and its fight for justice. I want to reassure noble Lords that the Government will not deprioritise this important work.

Before I move on to the substance of the SI, I will take a moment to reflect on the people behind the statistics, specifically the families of the infected, who have had not just to watch as their loved ones suffered in front of them but to fight for justice, in some cases for decades, putting their lives on hold and changing them irreversibly. We must recognise the sacrifice of the families, carers and campaigners.

When I first spoke at the Dispatch Box on the infected blood scandal in March last year, it was to discuss the second set of compensation regulations. I updated your Lordships’ House on the progress IBCA had made, specifically that 255 people had been asked to start their compensation claim, and £44 million-worth of offers had been made. A substantial amount of progress has been made since then. Indeed, as of 14 July, 5,404 people have been asked to start their claim, with over £2.7 billion of offers made. That is not to say that our work is done, which is why we are here today.

The regulations at hand are a direct product of what we heard in the consultation. I am sure noble Lords will appreciate that there is a diversity of views within the community, and the Government have done what they can to consolidate these views to ensure that the changes we are making reflect the thoughts and feelings of the majority. I will briefly summarise those changes.

Regulation 3 introduces a new level 2B award, as recommended by the inquiry, so that people who suffered from the side effects of interferon treatment receive an additional injury award, as well as further financial loss and care compensation, to reflect the impact it had on their lives. Following the consultation, the regulations also make sure that people who received more than one round of interferon will be properly compensated for each of those rounds of treatment. To be clear, the introduction of the level 2B banding is in line with the inquiry’s recommendations, which set out that the choice between creating this new banding or uplifting those who receive treatment with interferon to level 3 was for the Minister for the Cabinet Office to take.

Regulation 4 removes the 25% deduction applied to past care compensation for people who choose to receive support scheme payments for life. Following the consultation, the regulations make sure that people receive past financial loss compensation based on whichever of the two ways to calculate this award is most financially beneficial to them. The Government have chosen to do this to recognise that selecting only

one way of calculating this award would mean that some people’s expected awards may reduce in size. By running both calculations and giving each person whichever is the highest amount in their personal circumstances, we ensure that everyone gets fair compensation for this award.

Regulation 5 makes provision for a 50% uplift to the core autonomy award for those infected under the age of 18, calculated based on the highest severity of infection they experienced during childhood.

Regulation 6 amends the eligibility criteria for the unethical research award so that everyone treated for a bleeding disorder before 1986 will receive an unethical research award. The regulations also introduce a new unethical research award for children. This means that people who were treated for a bleeding disorder in childhood will receive an uplifted award. The regulations also increase the amount of compensation that all eligible people receive for this award. It is one of the most shocking aspects of the scandal, and I am sure that noble Lords will agree that no amount of money could ever make up for the heinous experimentation that happened, particularly when that took place on children. We have listened to the feedback received through the consultation and, as a result, people who attended Treloar’s will receive £60,000, rather than the £25,000 proposed in the consultation. Other children will receive £45,000. Those treated in adulthood will receive £30,000, tripling the amount they currently receive.

Regulation 7 ensures that everyone who was eligible for the special category mechanism or an equivalent payment through the infected blood support schemes receives additional financial loss and care compensation. Following the consultation, these regulations ensure that everyone in this position has the award backdated to 2017, when the SCM award was first introduced, regardless of when they were assessed. Living people who were not assessed as eligible for SCM can now apply for it through IBCA, including those who were previously unsuccessful in their application to the IBSS.

Regulations 8 and 9 make changes to the exceptional loss award under the supplementary route. These regulations introduce a compensation uplift of £60,000 for people who had entered or had an offer to enter a career that generally would have paid 10% more than the gross national median average earnings as determined in 2024 at any point prior to retirement age but were unable to progress in this career due to their infection. This award will be made on top of their core route financial loss award.

We also heard in the consultation that some people are concerned that they will not be able to access the exceptional loss award if they do not have historic payslips. The Government will work with IBCA to ensure that all relevant evidence can be used to help someone show that they are eligible for the exceptional loss award so that that is not a barrier. The Government have been clear that we want the scheme to be as sympathetic and unburdensome to applicants as possible.

Regulation 10 introduces a 50% uplift to the core injury award for some affected people. This includes eligible bereaved partners, and children and siblings

who themselves have been affected under 18 years of age. Eligible bereaved parents will also be able to receive this award in the tragic circumstances where their child passed away while under the age of 18. I assure noble Lords that, as with the rest of these regulations, the decisions we made on this award directly reflect what we heard through the consultation about the specific impacts of the scandal on children.

Regulations 11 and 12 are unrelated to the public consultation and relate to the transfer of responsibility for making support scheme payments from the infected blood support scheme to IBCA. To maintain consistency with the support schemes, the value of someone’s support scheme payments is uprated every year in April at the rate of CPI in the previous September. These regulations therefore account for the next CPI uplift taking place in April 2027, after IBCA takes responsibility for making support scheme payments for the infected blood support schemes.

The changes that I have set out are the result of this Government accounting for the variety of views that we heard in the consultation and balancing this with a tariff-based scheme that can be delivered as quickly as possible. Today’s debate, while focused on the regulations, is not about the Government’s work on this matter. It is about those people who have lived through some of the most tragic circumstances and doing what we can to bring them justice. I beg to move.

4.40 pm

Amendment to the Motion