Cachella Smith
Reporting from the inquiry

Many of those in the room just took to their feet with the largest round of applause I've heard this morning.

Campaigner Andrew Evans thanks the inquiry and its chair, Brian Langstaff, for the "compassion, the understanding, the friendship and the foresight" to keep the inquiry open.

Evans says over the years this community "has had very few friends".

He adds they were "made to feel dirty" and "told it didn't happen".

"That changed on 20 May last year," he tells the inquiry now - referencing the date the inquiry's final report was published.

Carolyn Challis, a victim and campaigner, now lists a string of recommendations for the compensation process.

• There should be no discrepancies between what different groups receive, with full parity for those infected, Carolyn Challis advises
• Challis continues that the process should be "simple and streamlined"and people should not be re-traumatised by having to prove their condition

• "Clear timeline" on when payments will be made and "proper funding" for charities and support groups who have supported victims, Challis says

• "We don't have time on our side or the energy to keep fighting for justice," Challis ends her statement

Cachella Smith
reporting from the inquiry

The lead counsel for the inquiry has now asked each member of the panel to give their recommendations for what they would like to see change.

Alan Burgess starts - with speed being first on his list.

He criticises again the "so-called invites," saying it is adding to the "mental anguish" waiting to see if it's your month to be asked to claim.

"I'm sure they do understand what they're doing," he tells the inquiry. "They can't be that thick" he adds to laughter.

As we reported earlier, Burgess was 27 when he was given blood infected with HIV and hepatitis C while being treated for haemophilia.

Image source, PA Media

• 5 April 2023: Infected Blood Inquiry publishes an interim report with recommendations about redress - noting many who should benefit from compensation “are now on borrowed time”
• 20 May 2024: Then-PM Rishi Sunak pledges “comprehensive” compensation after final report published
• 17 October 2024: First 20 applications invited to claim compensation, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) says
• 9 April 2025: Inquiry announces new hearings after concerns raised about the compensation process
• 6 May 2025: IBCA figures show 677 people have been invited to start their claim, with 106 payments made totalling £96.6m

Image source, Infected Blood Inquiry

Lynne Kelly of Haemophilia Wales says the government has "not followed" the advice of the experts included in the report on compensation, and instead had "rewritten" the advice.

Kelly says concerns from the organisation aired during meetings with the Cabinet Office "fell on deaf ears".

"We just feel it was a set up really," she says."The outcomes were already decided, before they even met any of us."

Kate Burt from the Haemophilia Society says there has been "a complete disregard for the patient voice," to a swell of applause.

Cachella Smith
Reporting from the inquiry

During the break, I spoke with Justine Gordon-Smith whose father, Randolph Peter Gordon-Smith, learned in 1994 that he had been infected with hepatitis C.

Her father, who had haemophilia, wasn't told he was infected with hepatitis C for more than 20 years, she tells me.

He has since passed away.

Justine says he "withdrew from society" and wasn't able to have the life "he wanted to lead". She adds her family didn't understand what had happened until the inquiry.

She says the government wanted to wait for the final report "but it appears to me as if they haven't read it" - that it has not recognised the "seriousness" of it.

"What we're doing is also a means to protect patients in the future - to ensure the scale of this is recognised."

Hugh Pym
Health editor

Image source, PA

Six and a half years ago I sat in the gallery here at Church House, Westminster, for the opening day of the Infected Blood Inquiry.

There was moving and powerful testimony from victims and the bereaved but also a sense of relief that after decades of campaigning a public inquiry into the scandal had at last begun.

The inquiry chair Brian Langstaff stressed that the infected and affected would be at the centre of the evidence gathering.

Fast forward to another Westminster hall, almost a year ago to the day, and his final report pulled no punches in condemning the failings of governments and health officials and the pressing need for compensation.

Hopes were raised amongst campaigners that the justice they had craved was being delivered.

But now, sitting in Church House again, a mood of exasperation is only too clear.

Words like disgraceful and immoral are being used to describe the conduct of officials. There have been accusations of delay and intransigence.

Once again the point was made that some who had waited decades may not survive till the conclusion of the process.

Image source, Infected Blood Inquiry

We're hearing from Samantha May from the Hepatitis C Trust, who says she is concerned there is a "complete lack of understanding" at how the agreed sums of compensation have been decided for those with Hepatitis C.

The community wasn't consulted in the compensation process, she says.

She adds the burden of proof falls on victims, she says, as they have to prove they caught the virus directly through NHS administered blood products to receive compensation

"People will have to provide very strong evidence," she says, going back decades and decades.

"Not everyone but the large majority of victims are getting older," she says, adding a range of factors - including loneliness and a lack of awareness around what they are entitled to - means many will never get full compensation.

Campaigners in her organisation and specialists were ignored by the government, she says as the room erupts into applause.

Claire McAllister
BBC Scotland health reporter

Earlier we heard from leading Scottish campaigner Bill Wright, who has previously made reference to the Penrose Inquiry

Before the UK-wide Infected Blood Inquiry, there was the Penrose Inquiry.

Penrose was the first statutory inquiry in the UK that looked into the scandal and only focused on systems and procedures in Scotland.

It was ultimately labelled a “whitewash” when it was published in 2015.

After six years of investigating, it made a single recommendation – that anyone in Scotland who had a blood transfusion before 1991 should be screened for Hepatitis C.

There was an angry response to the report from victims and relatives, with some setting fire to copies of it on the street.

The Penrose Inquiry lacked the full statutory powers to compel witnesses from outside Scotland to give evidence, and until 1999 health policy had been controlled by Westminster.

About 3,000 people in Scotland contracted HIV and Hepatitis C via contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 80s.

• The hearings have resumed at the Infected Blood Inquiry and you can follow by clicking Watch Live at the top of the page

It's been a very sombre morning at the inquiry so far, with victims and campaigners becoming tearful as they give harrowing testimonies. Here's a recap of the main points they made:

• Alan Burgess, who was 27 when he was given blood infected with HIV and hepatitis C, says the mental health of those waiting for compensation is "shocking" with many struggling in their daily lives and living their final days uncompensated
• Mary Grindley, whose husband died in 1994 after he was infected by contaminated blood, said "there are widows who have died who will now get no compensation"
• Andrew Evans, who contracted Hepatitis C and HIV when he was five years old, read an email from a victim who says their "anguish is beyond words" and the past year left them “on the brink of a mental health emergency”
• William Wright, founder of Haemophilia Scotland, says "a lack of trust and confidence" has meant victims of the scandal do not trust government

As a reminder, in October 2024, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that the government had set aside £11.8bn to pay compensation to victims. The government also set up an independent arms-length body called the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), , externalto administer payments.

As of 6 May, the IBCA says it has made 106 compensation payments totalling £96.6m, and its priority remained "paying as many people as soon as possible".

Cachella Smith
Reporting from the inquiry

The inquiry is now taking a quick break - and will return at 11:40 BST.

This morning's session was, at times, emotional - but those on the panel were supported with applause from those watching.

When the hearing returns the panel will continue giving evidence - stay with us.

As a reminder, you can follow the proceedings by clicking Watch Liveat the top of this page.

Image source, Infected Blood Inquiry Live stream

Independent campaigner Mary Grindley says there has been a lack of access to compensation meetings for campaigners, adding "decisions are being made behind closed doors".

Reading comments from a victim, she says they are "perceived as the enemy".

"They slam the door in our faces," she says, as applause ripples through the room.

Grindley's husand, John, died in 1994 after he was infected by contaminated blood.

Asked about the victims' state of health and age, she says, "they just want us all to die".

"I'm 76, I might get money when I'm 80...I know widows in their 80s, who are in dire straits. There are widows who have died who will now get no compensation.

"I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel," she says.

Gary Webster, who was infected with HIV and hepatitis C as a Hampshire schoolboy, describes the "experimentation" that was carried out "weekly" on haemophiliac students at Lord Mayor Treloar College.

Webster says that none of the former pupils or their parents have any idea when they will be "invited" to claim compensation.

"It's absolutely disgraceful," he says. "They were children," he says, his voice breaking.

Treloar College was one of several institutions condemned in the inquiry's final report.

We can bring you more from Nigel Hamilton, chair of Haemophilia Northern Ireland, who just spoke at the inquiry.

Ahead of the hearing, Hamilton told the BBC he "wants justice for everyone" affected.

As a reminder, Hamilton contracted hepatitis C after receiving contaminated blood products during an operation in the 1970s.

His twin brother Simon, who died on Christmas Day in 2023, also contracted Hepatitis C after being given contaminated transfusions.

Mr Hamilton has already received his compensation but he has continued to campaign.

"My objective for staying in this process, rather than taking my money and running, is that I want to see justice for all other victims,” he said.

Read the full story.

Nigel Hamilton, who contracted hepatitis C after receiving contaminated blood products during an operation in the 1970s, says the process has created a "tier of victimhood," which he says is "immoral, corrupt and unacceptable".

Nigel has received compensation, but he says: "Many of the older generation have just accepted, sadly, that they're not going to receive any recognition."

Image source, Infected Blood Inquiry live stream

Carolyn Challis says the government involvement with victims and support groups has been "a tick box exercise".

She says victims do not have access to psychological support. "We're in limbo," she says.

"We have no closure, we are constantly exhausted, anxious and demoralised."

The government is compounding the problem with "its intransigence and its delays," she adds.

Jim Reed
Reporting from the inquiry

We are hearing some harrowing testimony from victims of the scandal and their representatives this morning.

As we reported, Evans read out an email from one of his members saying that the past year has “brought a new layer of psychological pain” and left them “on the brink of a mental health emergency”.

He said there was a “long held feeling” that the authorities wanted to drag out the scandal because “the longer this goes on, the less compensation will need to be repaid”.

Under the current rules, if someone infected with HIV or hepatitis B or C dies before receiving full compensation, then any final award can be passed on to their relatives through their estate.

But crucially compensation can also be claimed by those affected by the scandal – a partner, parent or sibling for example – for the separate impact on their lives.

And if they die before that compensation is agreed, then their claim will die with them and cannot be passed on.

Cachella Smith
Reporting from the inquiry

Evans is now listing a number of issues that people have raised about the way the compensation scheme is being handled.

For many of the points he makes, those attending signal their agreement with rounds of applause - including when Evans explains those who have been affected and are ill or elderly "know their claim dies with them" and that is "justice lost forever".

Evans quotes another campaigner that the community has had to "revisit every part of the harm we experienced".

"The damage caused deserves its own compensation scheme," Evans concludes to another large round of applause.

Image source, PA Media

We're now hearing from Andrew Evans, founder of the Tainted Blood campaign group, who contracted Hepatitis C and HIV when he was five years old from being given an infected product by the NHS.

He becomes tearful as he reads from a letter from a victim who says his "anguish is beyond words."

Evans continues that it is "a long held feeling" that the government is deliberately taking a long time to pay out compensation - in the hope less will have to be paid as more people die.

Victims of the scandal have written to Evans telling them of the seismic impact the daily uncertainty of compensation is having on their lives.

Victims and campaigners have reported feeling at their "lowest ebb," he says. "I've seen those who have stood firm for decades simply crumble," he adds.

Cachella Smith
Reporting from the inquiry

Burgess is continuing to give his evidence to the inquiry.

He says the word "invite" - whereby those infected and affected are "invited" to claim for compensation - is "wrong".

His comment is met with another round of applause from those attending and I spot a few nods as he says it.

The panel are receiving a lot of support for their comments so far this morning - there have been a number of rounds of applause suggesting the views of the panel are shared by a number of those who have turned up to attend the inquiry today.

• As a reminder, you can watch the proceedings by clicking Watch Live at the top of this page