After years of inquiries, why are victims of gross errors by public bodies still waiting for proper compensation? | Simon Jenkins

The contaminated blood and Post Office scandals have resulted in politicians and Whitehall both dodging accountability

How much money should go to those given infected blood in the 1970s and 80s? And how much to the wronged subpost office operators? Such questions surge periodically into the daylight and then subside. Last month it was the subpost office operators’ turn, stirring a burst of public rage. Today, an amendment to a bill demanding expanded compensation for victims of infected blood is expected to pass.

Both cases are heartbreaking. They tell of lives ruined through gross errors by public bodies. Both have been lurking for decades in Whitehall attics, lost in a world of lavish public inquiries and dodged political accountability. Two infected blood inquiries have so far consumed £100m in fees, without challenge or value audit. Legal fees now consume a quarter of the £2.6bn paid by the NHS in 2021-22 to victims of negligence.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

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