UK infected blood: 2025 rules on who qualifies and pay

New regulations for the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme take effect on 31 December 2025 across the UK. We guide you through who now qualifies, how payments are calculated, and what changes for families. The Cabinet Office, led by Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds, made the amendment on 16 December 2025 following approval by both Houses of Parliament.

Here is the short backstory. The scheme was set up in 2024 and replaced in 2025 with a fuller set of rules. This latest instrument fixes earlier drafting problems and clarifies how the scheme works so people are not tripped up by technicalities. It applies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

If you already receive infected blood support scheme payments, you are now automatically eligible for compensation under the scheme. That applies whether you are the infected person or an affected person such as a bereaved partner. In plain terms, being on a recognised support scheme is enough to pass the eligibility test without starting from scratch.

Eligibility is also widened in key places. People infected with HIV from infected blood before 1 January 1982 are expressly covered. If you were in a long‑term relationship and were infected through sexual contact when you were not yet living together, you can still qualify if you later lived together. Where a partner who infected you with Hepatitis B does not meet certain evidence conditions, you may still qualify if you meet them and the other criteria are satisfied. One clear exclusion remains: if you had a tissue transplant and were told beforehand the tissue carried HIV, Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C, you cannot claim for that route of infection.

A definition change helps make calculations fairer. Instead of anchoring awards to only the year of infection, the rules now use a ‘compensation period’. For infected people, this starts from the later of 1952, your first year of infection, or (for certain partner‑to‑partner cases) the year you began living with that partner. For affected people, it starts from the later of 1952 or the year after the infected person died. What this means: the years counted for ‘past’ and ‘future’ amounts are now set in a way that better reflects real lives.

If the affected person has died, their estate can claim so long as the death fell between 21 May 2024 and 31 March 2031. The rules also explain how to set the ‘relevant date’ where both the infected and affected people have died, and make clear that a personal representative can make and sign applications on behalf of someone who has died.

There is a specific boost for bereaved partners. For the 12 months after the month in which the infected person dies, you receive 100% of the value of the support scheme payments rather than the usual 75%. The regulations call this the recent bereavement period. What this means: for one year, the scheme recognises the financial shock to a household and holds you at the full rate.

The timetable for moving certain support scheme payments into the compensation system is pushed back by a year. Payments that were due to switch in 2026 will now switch in 2027. Where a household is in the transfer year, the amount you receive is prorated month by month, with a full‑rate calculation for months within bereavement and a 75% rate outside that period.

Application evidence is simplified. For HIV, you provide the date you were given the diagnosis. For Hepatitis B or C, the rule that asked for evidence of the date of infection is removed. If the applicant is deceased, their personal representative provides the information and signs. Where someone lacks capacity, payments and any repayment duties sit with them directly rather than a holder of a power of attorney.

The scheme updates how it treats severity when historic records are thin. If you are at the most severe level now, earlier years can be ‘deemed’ at level 3 or level 2 over set windows so gaps do not unfairly reduce your award. The care award is clarified too: if someone died with Hepatitis B at level 5 and did not have Hepatitis C at level 4 or HIV, the care award is £41,188.49. If they had Hepatitis B level 5 alongside Hepatitis C at level 2 or 3, that sum is paid plus the amount due for the Hepatitis C level.

Earnings and costs rules are adjusted to avoid cliff edges. You can now claim exceptional loss from reduced earnings without needing to meet a minimum earnings threshold. The regulations also prevent the same end‑of‑life care costs being paid twice, and they update how financial loss is calculated for PAYE earners.

If an eligible person is being paid by instalments and dies, the remaining amount can be paid early as a lump sum. You can also choose to stop instalments and take what remains as a lump sum. People who kept receiving support scheme payments after 31 March 2025 can change their minds later; the Authority will calculate and pay what the compensation would have been had they opted out earlier, with CPI‑based compounding applied in the way the rules set out.

For affected partners and children, financial loss awards now end at realistic points. For partners, the award can run up to the year the infected person was expected to reach their healthy life expectancy; for children, to the year they turn 18. If the affected person dies earlier, the award ends in their year of death. What this means: awards stop when the household’s dependency would reasonably have ended.

A few definitions to have to hand while you read your paperwork. IBCA means the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, which pays compensation. IBSS refers to the existing infected blood support schemes run in the nations. An ‘SSP recipient’ is someone receiving support scheme payments. A ‘recent bereavement period’ is the 12 months starting in the month after a death. The ‘relevant person’ is usually you; for a child it is the person with parental responsibility, and for someone who has died it is their personal representative.

Key dates and next steps. The amendment was made on 16 December 2025 and starts on 31 December 2025. Estates can claim for deaths between 21 May 2024 and 31 March 2031. The support‑payment handover is now due in 2027. To get ready, gather diagnosis letters for HIV, proof of support scheme status if you have it, and documents showing living arrangements or bereavement. If you are already on a support scheme, you should not have to re‑prove eligibility.

What this means for you in a sentence: eligibility is clearer, bereaved partners get a full year at 100%, evidence demands are lighter for Hepatitis claims, and you have more choice between instalments and a lump sum. Keep copies of everything and use these definitions to read your award letters with confidence.