Billions of pounds of funding will be set aside to compensate the victims of two major public scandals, Rachel Reeves has announced in the Budget.
Some £11.8 billion will be set aside to compensate those impacted by the infected blood scandal and £1.8 billion to compensate the victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal, the Chancellor told the Commons.
Public inquiries into both scandals have recommended swift and generous compensation packages for those who have suffered injustices, but Ms Reeves claimed the previous Conservative government had “failed to budget” for the costs of this.
In her Budget speech, the Chancellor told MPs: “The previous government also failed to budget for costs which they knew would materialise.
“That includes funding for vital compensation schemes for victims of two terrible injustices: the infected blood scandal and the Post Office Horizon scandal.
“The Leader of the Opposition (Rishi Sunak) rightly made an unequivocal apology for the injustice of the infected blood scandal on behalf of the British state, but he did not budget for the costs of compensation.
“Today, for the very first time, we will provide specific funding to compensate those infected and those affected, in full, with £11.8 billion in this Budget.
“I am also today setting aside £1.8 billion to compensate victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal, redress that is long overdue for the pain and injustice that they have suffered.”
Some 30,000 NHS patients were given blood products contaminated with HIV or hepatitis C between the 1970s and the early 1990s.
The scandal has not only led to thousands of deaths, but long-term impacts on the lives of those affected and their families.
In the Post Office-Horizon scandal, thousands of subpostmasters were accused of fraud due to faulty accounting software.
Some were jailed or forced to pay back thousands of pounds while others were ostracised by their communities for crimes they did not commit.
Jason Evans, director of Factor 8 – one of the leading infected blood campaigns – welcomed the Chancellor’s announcement and said while compensation costs may “seem high”, that is “because the scale of suffering, loss and death due to the scandal is high”.
He said many impacted by the scandal believe the Government should “claw back” costs from companies who manufactured tainted blood products.
Mr Evans added: “Both public authorities and commercial organisations share responsibility for the infected blood scandal. Both knowingly allowed infected blood products to be in circulation for patient use.
“I would encourage the Government to carefully consider if the public interest is served by allowing companies, whose products kill people, to evade their share of responsibility.”
Rachel Halford, chief executive of the Hepatitis C Trust, said: “We welcome the Government’s commitment of nearly £12 billion in the Budget to compensate those affected by the infected blood scandal.
“Now, it is crucial that the Government acts swiftly to deliver compensation without further delay – this community has been forced to wait for justice for far too long already.”
