Correspondence

IBCA Newsletter, 24 October 2024

Published 25 October 2024

An update on the first compensation claims

Last week’s update outlined the first invites being sent for a very small number of initial claims, as we begin to design how the claims process will work. All of these initial invites have now been sent, and most of the people contacted have already responded. We will now work with them to progress their claims as soon as possible, and update you on how this goes. We know this can be frustrating for all those waiting to claim and not yet able to do so, but by starting small and designing the claims service as we go, we’ll be able to open up quicker to everyone as a result.

As part of being ready to process these claims, our first claims managers have joined IBCA this week, and have gone straight into training to be ready to support. Feedback on processing these first claims - both from our claims managers and from those claiming - will help us to understand what information and evidence we can already access, and what else we may need to make the process faster for everyone when the full service opens. Thank you also to members of the community who have volunteered to come and speak to our claims managers in person, so they understand how their work can best support this community.

We know from feedback that you want claims to be as easy and quick as possible, which is why IBCA now has access to the Alliance House Organisation files, which means we’re reducing the information that people who are claiming may need to provide. 

You do not need to contact us or the infected blood support schemes (IBSS) to ask when claims will be open. We’ll update you regularly through these community updates. 

You can also see David Foley, Interim Chief Executive of IBCA, talking about how we are managing the first claims in his video update on YouTube.

Community update: The first compensation claims

Keep up to date via social media and share with your communities

You can find IBCA on X for our latest news and updates. 

You can also hear from David Foley on X. He will be updating the community regularly. 

Watch our Intro to IBCA on Youtube.

Introduction to the Infected Blood Compensation Authority with CEO David Foley

Don’t worry if you don’t use social media, as we’ll also continue to include all updates in this regular email.

Interim payments to estates - applications open today

The government has announced today that applications for the interim payments to estates have now opened. 

This is an interim payment of £100,000 to the estates of people who have died and were registered with a support scheme or a predecessor Alliance House Organisation (on or before 17 April 2024). 

These are people who were infected with contaminated blood or blood products and whose deaths haven’t previously been recognised by an interim payment. 

You can read the Minister for the Cabinet Office’s full statement.

You can also read the government’s guidance on how to apply for these payments.

You should contact the support scheme in your nation if you want to make a claim for an interim payment to an estate. IBCA will not be making these payments. If you need any further information on interim payments to estates, or help and support on your application, please visit the interim payments page.

Latest updates in Parliament

There have been two recent debates in Parliament about infected blood. These debates were about the first set of regulations that allows IBCA to make core route payments to infected people. 

The first debate was in the House of Lords on Monday 21 October and the second was in the House of Commons yesterday, Wednesday 23 October. Both houses of Parliament approved the regulations in these debates. 

You can find a record of the House of Lords debate and the House of Commons debate on the Parliament website.   

A quick reminder - please be aware of fraud 

If you think that a message or phone call from us is not genuine, you can contact us to check using the details from our current website

You can always report suspicious text messages or calls free of charge by texting 7726. Your provider can find out where the text came from and block or ban the sender.

You can report fraud or cyber crime any time at www.actionfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, you can report it to the Police by calling 101. If you are a victim of fraud, report it to your bank.