Legal recruitment firm for infected blood inquiry paid more than compensated victims

Yahoo

28-02-2025

More taxpayer money has been spent on government legal staff for the infected blood scandal inquiry than has been awarded to victims, analysis shows.
It has been nine months since the infected blood inquiry's final report was declared a 'day of shame' for the British state and revealed the scale of the worst treatment disaster in NHS history.
The compensation scheme for the infected and affected individuals of the scandal is now operational and in an early stage of deployment. It is inviting small numbers of people and handling their claims before opening up more widely later this year.
Officials at the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) hope to have invited 250 people to claim by the end of March.
However, an update on Thursday revealed that just £25.1 million of compensation had been accepted by a total of 22 victims. A further 16 offers have been made, totalling an additional £23 million.
Meanwhile, analysis from Tussell, the data firm, on behalf of The Telegraph has found that one legal recruitment company has been awarded more than £35 million of taxpayers' money since 2018, when the inquiry began.
Law Absolute Ltd is a legal recruitment specialist based in London and was given contracts ranging from £375,000 to £8 million by the Cabinet Office and the Crown Prosecution Service to provide paralegals for the Government throughout the inquiry.
Des Collins, a solicitor representing 1,500 victims, told The Telegraph: 'The cost outlay here has been substantial and you have to question why after almost 10 months the compensation paid to the victims remains so low.'
The inquiry ended in May 2024 and the most recent contract spans from June 2024 until the end of June 2025.
More than 30,000 people who received NHS treatment between the 1970s and early 1990s were infected with contaminated blood and many contracted viruses including hepatitis C and HIV.
The NHS during this time imported blood products from the US, where medicines were manufactured from blood donations of people at high risk of carrying blood-borne infections, such as homeless people, prisoners and gay men.
Tainted products killed at least 3,000 people, with thousands more suffering lifelong health issues as a result.
Victims are entitled to free legal advice throughout the compensation claim process and their legal representatives are paid following the completion of a claim. This sum is understood to be less than £5,000 per victim. An infected person's claim can be for more than £2.7 million, depending on circumstance.
The Government has ring-fenced £11.8 billion to fund compensation for the victims and established the IBCA to independently run the process.
More than £87 million of public cash was spent in total on the scandal, not including compensation, the analysis found.
Among the costs is £22 million on 29 contracts from the NHS to various trusts to provide a psychological support service for those affected by the scandal.
A total of 16 NHS trusts received money to assist with their role in the inquiry. Newcastle upon Tyne, the Royal Free and Oxford were the three trusts that spent the most money. These trusts were also implicated in some of the worst behaviour of the scandal, with notable doctors working at each site.
However, many of the infected people who have endured decades of illness while fighting for justice are growing frustrated with the pace of the compensation scheme.
The scheme has been described as having a 'one size fits all' approach, and the process to receive compensation has also been criticised as being long-winded and complex. It can take a month for an individual to go from being invited to claim to receiving their money.
But the IBCA has defended its approach, saying that going slowly initially allows it to ensure the system is robust and efficient before being able to open up en masse as 2025 progresses.
This approach, it says, will ensure that all eligible people receive their compensation as soon as possible.
David Foley, interim chief executive of the IBCA, said: 'We are building a claim service like no other and our approach is the opposite of a one-size-fits-all.
'Every person making a compensation claim has a unique set of experiences, and it is right that our service supports each individual circumstance.'
The Cabinet Office has been approached for comment.
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