Correspondence

IBCA Community Update, 13 March 2025

Published 13 March 2025

Hello,

This latest community update includes:

• the Infected Blood Inquiry and latest publications
• publication of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority Framework document
• IBCA’s compensation calculator.

If you have any feedback or questions please contact us by emailing ibcaenquiries@ibca.org.uk.

Infected Blood Inquiry - latest publications

Earlier today the Infected Blood Inquiry published witness statements from those impacted by infected blood, and related organisations. This includes a witness statement from IBCA’s Chief Executive, David Foley.

We know that so many have waited decades for recognition and compensation, and that’s why IBCA’s priority continues to be paying as many people as soon as possible as we design and build the claim service.

We are committed to working with this community wherever and however we can, and the Inquiry’s witness statements are helpful as further feedback that we can reflect on. We are reading through all of these in detail, and will work with the Inquiry on any further evidence or information that is needed to ensure we collectively support those impacted by the infected blood scandal. 

Our regular sessions with many of you also help us to hear, understand and respond to concerns.

As you’ll know, the first set of regulations allowing us to make payments were laid in Parliament by the Government in August 2024. While designing and building a new organisation and a claim service, we contacted the first people to claim in October 2024 and since then have been building a claims service so we can make payments as soon as possible. We made the first compensation offers in December 2024. By February 2025, more than 200 people had been contacted to start their claims, with 38 compensation offers made totalling more than £48million, and more being processed every week.

We’re recruiting hundreds of claims managers now to help us continue increasing the numbers of compensation claims as soon as possible.

Read the latest update from the Infected Blood Inquiry. 

Infected Blood Compensation Authority Framework published 

As part of our commitment to transparency, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) has published a Framework document which outlines how the Cabinet Office and IBCA will work to deliver the compensation scheme. This document is available on our website.

It is a requirement for arm’s-length bodies to have a sponsor department in Government. For IBCA,the Cabinet Office is our sponsor department. This means the Cabinet Office is responsible for making sure IBCA delivers efficiently and effectively, while IBCA remains an operationally independent organisation. 

IBCA is independent in terms of its day-to-day delivery, and decisions about how the organisation designs its service are made by the IBCA Board, not Cabinet Office. IBCA is also responsible for delivering the compensation. The Cabinet Office is not involved in compensation claims or determining individual compensation amounts, beyond the tariffs that the Government has set.

The framework document sets out how the day-to-day relationship between IBCA and Cabinet Office works in practice, including in relation to governance and financial matters. In addition, the document sets out timelines by which we must make compensation payments. We aim to have made the majority of payments ahead of the dates given in the framework document. We will continue to keep you updated on how we’re building the claim service to make more payments, and when more people can start their claim. 

Update on the compensation calculator 

The first stage of our calculator 

We’re currently finalising the first version of the calculator after testing it with those who have been making a claim over the past few weeks. We will continue to test this over the weekend and make some technical improvements to ensure everyone can use it. We aim to publish it on our website next week (week beginning 17 March). 

As part of this testing we recently shared more information on how the calculator will work with those who represent members of the community, so they can review it and prepare to support their members. We’ll share this information - including a video covering each section of the calculator - with everyone as soon as the calculator is live.

Welsh language versions

If you, or someone you know, would like to receive the next and future IBCA Community Updates in Welsh, you can either let us know by signing up to our mailing list or emailing ibcaenquiries@ibca.org.uk.

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