The Infected Blood Compensation Authority’s (IBCA) Additional Report, published in July 2025, offers a candid and sobering assessment of the UK’s ongoing efforts to deliver justice for those infected and affected by the infected blood scandal. While clear strides have been made, the report illuminates systemic shortcomings, fragile public trust, and a delivery framework still grappling with complexity and delays. This critical analysis distils the report’s key findings, explores their broader implications, and reflects on whether the UK is finally on the path to resolution, or whether the shadow of historic failures continues to challenge progress.

 

Context: A Historic Injustice, A Continuing Responsibility

The infected blood scandal remains one of the UK’s gravest public health failures. Over 30,000 people were infected with HIV, Hepatitis C, or Hepatitis B via NHS-supplied blood products between the 1970s and 1990s. More than 3,000 have since died, many without acknowledgment or redress.

The 2024 public inquiry laid bare not only the clinical and procedural failings but also decades of institutional defensiveness, political inertia, and opacity. In its wake, the Government established the IBCA to administer compensation to those infected and affected.

Yet, the IBCA’s Additional Report of 2025 reveals that, despite structural efforts, justice remains incomplete. Over 70% of affected individuals were still awaiting compensation offers as of mid-2025, a stark reflection of the distance between policy ambition and lived experience.

IBCA’s Additional Report: Where Progress Meets Persistence

1. A System Designed Without Those It Serves

The report criticises the foundational design of the compensation scheme, highlighting that it was developed with limited direct involvement from victims and their families. The ‘Expert Group’ that shaped the framework operated with constraints on transparency and engagement, a design choice that appears misaligned with the Inquiry’s emphasis on co-design and inclusion.

“If the principle that ‘people affected by decisions need to be involved in them’ had been followed, it is likely that most or all of these problems could have been avoided.” — IBCA Additional Report

Advocacy organisations, including The Haemophilia Society, have reinforced this sentiment, cautioning that justice designed without victims’ voices risks repeating past marginalisation.

2. Transparency and Trust: Still Elusive

The compensation process has been marred by opacity. Claimants frequently report:

• Unclear decision-making pathways.
• An opaque appeals process.
• Inconsistent communication.

This lack of clarity perpetuates distrust, a painful echo of the secrecy that characterised the scandal’s origins. Can a system designed to deliver justice ever succeed if transparency remains conditional?

3. Progress Accelerating: Sustaining the Gains

Though the IBCA was initially criticised for sluggish progress, recent data indicates a meaningful acceleration:

• April 2025: 475 claim invitations, 77 payments made, £78 million disbursed.
• July 2025: 2,043 invitations, 460 payments made, £326 million disbursed.

A 330% increase in invitations and a near 500% increase in payments within three months signals undeniable progress. However, the IBCA Additional Report warns that such gains are fragile. The question remains: what measures are needed to sustain this momentum?

4. Structural Injustices: Persistent and Painful

Critical gaps remain embedded within the scheme:

• Pre-1982 HIV cases remain excluded due to historical diagnostic limitations.
• Hepatitis C survivors lack adequate recognition for the gruelling side effects of earlier treatments like interferon.
• Psychological harm criteria remain restrictive, requiring formal psychiatric diagnoses even when other clinical evidence is compelling.

These constraints risk entrenching new layers of injustice within a mechanism designed to rectify historic wrongs.

Systemic Risks: What Remains at Stake

Delays That Deepen Trauma

Every delay compounds the emotional and psychological strain for victims. The IBCA Additional Report documents testimony from individuals describing this as a “new and different layer of trauma.” For some, the pace of justice remains so slow that concerns persist about whether resolution will come within their lifetime.

Vulnerability to Exploitation

As processes remain opaque, many victims have turned to no-win-no-fee legal firms for assistance. This dynamic raises the uncomfortable question: are the system’s complexities inadvertently creating pathways for financial exploitation?

Historical Patterns of Disruption

The Additional Report references how prior institutional resets and delays have repeatedly undermined progress. Is the current system fortified against such risks? The Report poses this as an open question, cautioning that without vigilance, hard-won gains remain vulnerable to disruption.

The Government’s Pledge: Can Intentions Translate to Impact?

Ministers have publicly pledged to deliver comprehensive compensation “without further delay.” Yet, intentions must translate into transparent and victim-centred delivery. The ongoing demands from advocacy groups, including clearer communication, faster payments, and broader recognition of harm, remain as pertinent as ever.

Parliamentary scrutiny is intensifying, as is public impatience. The question remains: will the machinery of governance rise to meet the moral urgency of the moment, for those it exists to serve?

At the Crossroads: Progress, Patience, and the Risk of Regression

The IBCA’s recent data trajectory is encouraging, yet fragile. As one victim put it before Parliament:

“Each delay is another reminder that our lives don’t matter to those in power.”

Can the government sustain both the pace and the integrity of the compensation process, or will familiar patterns of delay and opacity resurface? The stakes are not just administrative, they are profoundly human.

A Final Word from Altin Biba, MBA, AMBA Chief Executive of ProMedical

The IBCA Additional Report is a profound reminder that justice delayed is not just justice denied, it is a continuation of harm. Progress is evident, but progress alone is not absolution.

For policymakers, civil servants, and leaders overseeing this response, the task remains not only administrative but deeply moral. Embedding transparency, inviting lived experience into decision-making, and ensuring that operational delivery matches the urgency of the promise; these are the measures by which history will judge.

The infected blood scandal is an indelible scar on the UK’s public health record. Whether it remains a permanent stain will be determined not by intentions, but by actions taken now, with integrity, humility, and respect for every life touched by this tragedy.

 

References

• IBCA Additional Report (2025), Infected Blood Compensation Authority
• UK Parliament: Statements on the Infected Blood Inquiry, 2024–2025
• The Hepatitis C Trust, Advocacy Statements, 2024–2025
• The Haemophilia Society, Public Campaigns and Commentary
• Terrence Higgins Trust, Statements on Infected Blood Compensation, 2025
• IBCA Statistics, April–July 2025 Updates