Recommendation IBI-A-3a: HIV Eligibility Start Date
From Additional Report on Compensation, published 9 July 2025.
Recommendation
An amendment to the Regulations be made as soon as possible to remove the reference to 1 January 1982 from Regulation 3.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry asked the UK Government to remove the 1982 start date for HIV compensation. In April 2026, the Cabinet Office reported that regulatory changes came into force in December 2025, ensuring anyone infected with HIV from infected blood treatment received before 1 January 1982 is eligible for compensation (Cabinet Office, Apr 2026). The department had previously agreed in July 2025 to amend the scheme to remove the 1982 date, stating that for financial loss awards without a specific infection date, the calculation would mirror the 1952 start date used for hepatitis (Cabinet Office response, Jul 2025).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 1 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
In his oral evidence to the Inquiry, the Minister for the Cabinet Office agreed to look again at the Scheme's eligibility criteria for people infected with HIV. The Inquiry went on to recommend that the scheme should be open to those who were infected with HIV before 1982. The Government commits to amend the scheme to remove the 1982 start date, meaning anyone infected with HIV because of treatment with infected blood or blood products will be eligible for compensation, irrespective of the year they were infected. Whilst there will be no start date for eligibility to the scheme, the financial loss award requires a date of first possible infection (for instances where a specific date cannot be identified). In these cases the date will mirror the start date for Hepatitis which is 1952. The Inquiry's Report noted that doing this was 'unlikely to give rise to any injustice'.
Delivery
Cabinet Office says completed (14 April 2026)
We were in a position to immediately accept - and address - some of these recommendations. These regulatory changes came into force in December 2025. As a result of these changes: Anyone infected with HIV as a result of infected blood treatment received before 1st January 1982 is now eligible for compensation.
From: Government response to consultation on proposed changes to the infected blood compensation scheme
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- UK Government
Response - Cabinet Office
Delivery statement