Correspondence

IBCA Community Update, 6 August 2025

Published 6 August 2025

Hello and welcome to your latest community update newsletter. In the last edition, we shared our response to the Inquiry’s additional report on compensation – this newsletter is a follow-up with more information about what happens next. In it we cover:

• developing a registration process
• an update on claims so far and when we aim to start the next group
• more information about the claim journey
• feedback from people who have made claims so far
• answers to your questions about our response to the Inquiry’s recommendations

Thank you as always for your feedback and questions; we regularly use them to improve this newsletter. Please do get in touch by ibcaenquiries@ibca.org.uk or on Facebook or X (formerly Twitter).

Registration – letting us know you intend to claim

You’ve told us you’d like a registration service where you can share your details and tell us that you intend to make a claim. This was also a recommendation in the Inquiry’s latest report. In our community update on 21 July, we confirmed that we’d explore registration. Since then, we’ve started doing research with people who might use registration to better understand their needs and inform the design. We are also meeting with community groups and representatives this week to explore what registration should include and consider how we approach introducing it. The organisations we are speaking to are listed on our website.

We’ll then publish on our website the main themes we hear at those meetings, so everyone can see them. We will also consider all the feedback, to understand how long it will then take to build and open registration.

Our current plan is to start registration for everyone eligible to make a claim by the end of September this year. This is based on gathering basic information about each person, for example; name, types of claim, and infection. If we hear at community sessions that the majority would prefer we gather more details at registration, for example individual medical records, that will take longer to build.

Update on claims

Claims for people infected and registered with a support scheme

We have now contacted more than two-thirds of living infected people registered with an existing support scheme to start their claim. We expect to ask everyone in this group to start their claim by the end of September 2025.

Over the last few months, we’ve contacted an average of 100 people each week to start their claim. The number of new claims we start each week will naturally reduce as we finish contacting this group, and move to opening up the service for the next group. Claim managers will continue to focus on supporting people to complete their claim, including finding any missing information or evidence.

Claims for people infected and never compensated (not registered with a scheme)

As we explained in our community update on 21 July, we will next start claims for those infected and never compensated. We have started designing the service for this group, working with people who will use it to understand their needs to inform the design. We are also organising sessions with community groups to gather views on how best to develop and deliver the service. We expect to start the first claims for this group in October 2025, unless we need to make any substantial changes after talking to community members.

As you’ll know, we started the first claims for the first group with very small numbers of people, allowing us to learn from each claim and build these learnings into the service before taking in bigger numbers of claims. We will do the same for this and every group. This means we will start with a small number, and you’ll see that our fortnightly intake of claims is lower for a short time. This will begin to increase as we learn from each new claim and we grow our service to handle more. This will help us improve the service and make sure it works for everyone.

Claims for deceased infected people, and those who are affected

We will also start the first claims for deceased infected people, and affected people, by December 2025. We will update further on this in the autumn.

Once IBCA has started claims for all three groups and increased the claim numbers we can handle for each, they will be progressed in parallel as per the Inquiry’s Additional Report recommendation.

Claim manager recruitment

We have 252 claim managers across our Newcastle and Glasgow offices – that’s halfway to our goal of recruiting 500 in total. Their role is to support each and every person making their claim.

We originally said we would bring in around 80 claim managers a month until we reached 500. We continue to review this regularly as we learn more about how many claim managers are needed as we continue to open the compensation service.

We now expect to bring in a total of 40 claim managers in August and September, and return to 80 per month from October. This is so we can focus on completing claims for those already in the service, and preparing and training claim managers for the new groups we’ll start this year.

The IBCA claim journey – what to expect from your claim manager

Kieran was one of the first IBCA claim managers to support a claim, and shares his experience of supporting someone through their claim from start to finish.

Read more on our website.

What did you want to achieve on your first call?

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve called someone at the start of a claim and they’ve said something like, “I’ll be honest Kieran, I didn’t trust ringing you”. People have had years of waiting and plenty of reasons not to trust organisations.

Our job as claim managers is initially to be like a sponge and absorb everything we can, in terms of information but also sometimes emotion. I also remind people starting as claim managers now, that however much training we receive, the greatest expert about someone’s claim is that person. They’ve lived it and we owe it to them to listen.

My role is to be available for someone making a claim from start to finish. I answer questions, make everything clear and help someone get the compensation they’re eligible for as quickly as possible.

What happens in the first conversation?

We will always get in touch with people in the best way for them – whether that’s email, phone or post. On the first call, I explain how the claim will work, including confirming their information before the calculation is made, making an offer and then making the payment. I also explain what medical and other supporting information we’ll need. I talk about the financial and legal support I can help arrange, and the different routes that people can take to receive their compensation such as lump sum or continuous payments.

What comes next?

I review the information IBCA already has about the person’s claim, and help gather any other details we need if they are available, with the person’s permission. This might include medical records and information about specific conditions.

Then I ask the person claiming to confirm all the information is correct on their declaration form. Once this is done, it’s time for the calculation – here I write to the person to let them know how much, and what types of compensation they are due based on their circumstances. I often have a call with the person too, so we can talk through the offer together.

How do you organise and make the payment?

Before we make the payment, the amount is checked by my senior manager and by a financial assessor. Then I make the transfer to the person’s bank account. I always confirm they’ve received it safely. Sometimes a bank might ask for proof of where payments have come from for example, and there’s things we can do to help in that situation.

It’s always really rewarding making the payment. People I speak to have waited years for this compensation and I’m honoured to play a part in supporting them. They regularly say it was easier than they expected, and they didn’t really believe it would finally be over.

Your feedback

Thank you to everyone who’s given us feedback on their claim so far. Here are some examples of what people are saying when they’ve completed their claim.

“From the start [of the claim process] to compensation in the bank it took 5 weeks. My mum’s claim manager was a wonderful lady who couldn’t be any more helpful 😄”

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank IBCA and my claim manager Steve for helping me through my claim process. Very helpful and not too intrusive. Yes, long overdue but finally able to ensure my loved ones are sorted and secure for the future.”

“… my compensation arrived in my bank account this morning! Thank you so much for all your hard work and for the sensitive and kindly manner in which you conducted yourself. I particularly appreciated your offer of screenshots to help inform the process…”

Your questions about our response to the Inquiry’s additional report on compensation

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback and asked questions about our response to the Inquiry’s recommendations in the last community update. These are the questions we’ve received the most, through our enquiries team and on social media.

Are you opening the service to different cohorts of people ‘in parallel’, like the Inquiry recommended?

We need to work with people who are infected and affected to develop each part of the service. Everyone’s experience is different and there are many different types of claim within each group, so this means each cohort needs to initially be developed separately. Once they are built and tested they will all be live, in parallel. But to wait for the ‘last’ cohort to finish development and testing would mean slowing the process for all.

Will the compensation calculator be updated to reflect the Inquiry recommendations?

Yes. The Minister for Cabinet Office confirmed on 21 July that there will be changes to the regulations to reflect the Inquiry’s recommendations. When those changes are made, we will update our compensation calculator to make sure it is accurate.

What happens if the regulations change and I’ve already received my compensation payment but I’m due a higher award?

When the regulations change, we will review all claims that may be impacted. Claim managers will then contact everyone in this situation, and we’ll change and update your compensation payment. We can only do this after the regulations have been laid in Parliament.

What’s happening with supplementary claims?

The Inquiry report makes specific recommendations about the supplementary route that the Government has accepted. These changes will need to be made in regulations. We need to wait until the Government has changed the regulations before we can start supplementary claims. It’s important we do this to make sure calculations are accurate and we take into account any impact the changes will have on the compensation due.

What’s happening with the community panel to advise the board?

We will establish a community panel to make sure that your views and feedback continue to inform our decision making. The panel will provide advice to the Board, and although it will not have decision-making authority, members will play an important role in shaping discussion, highlighting potential impacts on community members and offering recommendations that reflect the needs and priorities of the infected blood community.

We plan to publish a draft terms of reference for the panel shortly, and will then recruit people to be part of the panel. This will be a simple process asking for a short statement from anyone who would like to be part of the panel. We expect to start this recruitment soon. When recruitment is open, we’ll let you know in this newsletter and on our social media channels.

You’ve told us it’s important that a mix of people with different experiences, infection, and affected status are part of the panel. This is something we’ll build into the recruitment so we can create a panel that is as representative as possible.

Why can’t you process our claims based on information provided for past claims?

We often find that we need additional information when we start someone’s claim so we can make an accurate compensation calculation. For example, we might ask you about dates of infection or changes to your medical condition.

We’ll always look for other ways to help find the evidence you need for your claim. For example, we have asked the Infected Blood Inquiry for access to witness statements. This would enable us to consider wider evidence where records may be missing, to support eligible people to be able to make a claim wherever possible.

How can I access the new interim payment to Estates?

When the Government responded to the Infected Blood Inquiry’s recommendations, the Minister for Cabinet Office announced a further interim payment of £210,000 to the estates of the deceased infected previously registered with an Infected Blood Support Scheme (IBSS) or Alliance House Organisation (AHO), on or before 17 April 2024. For more details, visit the government website.

These payments will be processed by the existing Infected Blood Support Schemes (IBSS) on behalf of the UK Government, and we will work with them to let you know when you can apply for a further interim payment. IBCA cannot make these payments or take your contact details to pass on to the IBSS, as we don’t oversee them.

The government set out eligibility for interim payments to estates in its response to the Infected Blood Inquiry’s Additional Report. This includes that:

• If the estate, a living infected person (who has since sadly passed away) or a bereaved partner has already received £100,000, the personal representative of the estate will be eligible to apply for the further payment of £210,000
• If no interim payment has been made to the estate, a living infected person, or a bereaved partner, the personal representative of the estate may be eligible to apply for an interim compensation payment of £310,000
• If the living infected person has received £310,000, the estate will not be eligible for this interim payment
• Applications brought on behalf of an estate not registered with an existing IBSS or AHO on or before 17 April 2024 will not be eligible for this interim compensation payment, but may still be eligible for compensation

The Government will provide further updates on the application process on the Infected Blood Interim Compensation Payout Scheme webpage.

Protecting you from fraud

We’re putting systems in place to prevent, spot, and deal with fraud. If you get a suspicious message or phone call and want to check if it’s really from us, call us on 0141 726 2397 or email fraud@ibca.org.uk.

If you think someone has defrauded you:

• Report it online at Action Fraud or call 0300 123 2040
• In Scotland, call the police on 101
• Tell your bank straight away

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