Andy Burnham has accused the Government of “drawing new dividing lines between people” over compensation for the infected blood scandal, as a memorial service for victims was held at St Paul’s Cathedral.
The Greater Manchester mayor, who on Tuesday was announced as Labour’s candidate for the Makerfield by-election, told The i Paper the compensation rules amounted to “divide and rule sort of tactics”. He said he knew “new injustices have crept in over the last two years, and the fight needs to be for ever”.
“They [the Government] should just be making full amends to everybody, not drawing new dividing lines between people, between parents whose children died under 18 and those over,” he added. Mr Burnham, who said he was “gutted” not to attend the service, also reiterated his commitment to the Hillsborough Law “in its entirety” – the proposed Public Office (Accountability) Bill that would compel public servants to act with candour during inquiries.
Compensation uplift creates ‘new injustices’
The Cabinet Office announced last month that bereaved parents whose infected child died under the age of 18 would receive a 50% uplifted injury award to “recognise the profound impact of this loss”. However, parents whose children were over 18 at the time of their death are excluded from the uplift, a discrepancy Mr Burnham condemned as creating a hierarchy of grief.
The 50% uplift is part of a wider set of changes to the compensation scheme announced in April 2026, which also include increased “unethical research” awards for those treated in childhood – former pupils of Treloar’s college receiving £60,000, other children treated in childhood receiving £45,000, and adults receiving £30,000 – a new award to recognise “exceptional loss” for individuals whose infection prevented entry into a highly paid career or disrupted career progression, and an uplift to the core injury award for partners of infected individuals. People infected as children also receive a 50% uplift to their core Autonomy award, and anyone infected with HIV before January 1, 1982 is now eligible for compensation.
Overall, the Government has allocated £11.8 billion for compensation, administered by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA). An additional £1 billion was set aside in April 2026, bringing the total to £12.8 billion. Figures from the IBCA show that up to May 7, 3,232 people had received compensation, with combined payments totalling more than £2.1 billion. The chairman of the compensation authority has said “there is still a long way to go”, and charities including the Hepatitis C Trust and the Haemophilia Society have called on the Government to speed up payments, warning that some victims are dying before their claims are processed.
Memorial service marks two years since inquiry report
The memorial service at St Paul’s Cathedral was attended by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, former prime minister Theresa May, Health Secretary James Murray, and the Duke of Gloucester. It took place two years after the Infected Blood Inquiry published its main report.
The inquiry, chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff, concluded that the scandal – in which more than 30,000 people in the UK were infected with HIV and hepatitis C from contaminated blood and blood products between the 1970s and early 1990s – “could largely have been avoided” and involved a “pervasive” cover-up. More than 3,000 people have died as a result, while survivors live with lifelong health implications. Sir Brian said the scandal “was not an accident” but “human failure set upon human failure”.
Addressing the congregation, Sir Brian said: “Many knew instinctively that it could have been avoided. But most of those in authority would not accept there had been any such disaster, let alone inquire why it had happened.” He added: “In remembering, we must not forget that what happened medically was compounded by intransigence, defensiveness and untruths peddled by many in authority for far too long… The horrifying scale of what happened is also why it is so important that as a nation we always remember, and that those who continue to suffer, continue to grieve, know that they are not alone.”
Symbolic empty chairs were placed in the congregation to represent people who died, and singer Michael Ball performed Empty Chairs At Empty Tables. The service included poems written by members of the infected blood community, and paper petals were dropped from the cathedral’s dome in memory of lives lost.
The Very Reverend Andrew Tremlett, Dean of St Paul’s, said the service was to “publicly recognise and remember the devastation wrought on thousands of lives and the untimely deaths of loved ones”. He added: “This tragedy alone would be catastrophic enough. However, it has been exacerbated by the lack of public recognition and acknowledgment. For too long, the administration of life-changing and deadly viruses through contaminated blood and contaminated blood products has been hidden from public view… It has touched all corners of our United Kingdom and continues to take lives in the most cruel and harrowing ways.”
Paula Butterworth, whose partner John Louis Daly – a haemophiliac who died aged 42 in 2007 after contracting hepatitis C at the Royal Liverpool Hospital – said those who lost their lives had been “put at the bottom of the queue”. Speaking outside the cathedral, the 52-year-old said: “He left a 10-year-old daughter who’s now nearly 30, and you just can’t explain the impact it’s had on our life.”
The Cabinet Office has been approached for comment.
