Ministers broke blood scandal fees pledge, say victims

Law firm representing families of those given infected transfusions by the NHS has yet to be paid

BLOOD scandal victims have accused ministers of breaking a promise to pay their legal fees as a new inquiry begins..

A law firm representing 800 victims and families of those who were given NHS blood products contaminated with HIV and hepatitis in the Seventies and Eighties said it had not received a penny of funding.

Cabinet Office ministers promised earlier this year that victims would receive legal funding for the inquiry, which opens today in Westminster.

Des Collins, of Collins Solicitors, said that the firm first claimed in April for funding after it spent more than 1,000 hours working on the terms of reference, which set out the scope of the inquiry. He said the firm had also been told it would be paid for 16 per cent of the hours of work it applied for.

“If you were going to be cynical about it, you would say that’s a deliberate ploy. If you’re litigating against someone and they have deep pockets, they can just throw money at it until you give up,” he said. He said the financial issues could limit the firm’s ability to pursue the case.

Almost 5,000 people in the UK contracted HIV or hepatitis C after being given a contaminated treatment for haemophilia, and others also became infected after receiving transfusions. More than 2,800 people are known to have died in what has been called the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.

Last year, the Prime Minister said there would be a full public inquiry into the scandal, saying the Cabinet Office would take responsibility for establishing it, after concerns raised by families that the Department of Health would effectively be investigating itself.

Senior political figures including Sir John Major and five former health secretaries are expected to face pressure to give evidence to the inquiry, which is led by Sir Brian Langstaff, a retired High Court judge.

In March, Chloe Smith, the parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office, said costs incurred by lawyers working to establish the terms of reference for the inquiry would be paid.

David Lidington, minister for the Cabinet Office, told the House of Commons in July that non means-tested legal aid funding would be made available for victims. A Government spokesman said: “The Government has made it clear that all reasonable expenses for legal representation, including in response to the consultation of the terms of reference of the inquiry, will be met.

“It is for the independent inquiry to determine what is considered reasonable expense in accordance with the Inquiry Rules 2006 and its statement of approach on legal representation at public expense.”