Skipton Fund - government payment scheme

• The Skipton Fund, the body set up to manage the UK-wide ex gratia payment scheme for people infected with Hepatitis C from NHS blood or blood products, went live on the 5th July 2004.
• The scheme will make lump sum payments of £20,000, directly into your bank account, to all those who are eligible, with a further £25,000 when people reach a more advanced stage of illness.
• The 'advanced stage' of illness that triggers eligibility for the £25,000 is defined as when a patient develops cirrhosis, liver cancer or if they have received a liver transplant.
• Legislation affecting social security benefits, residential care charging and housing improvement and repair grants has been amended to ensure that people receiving payments from the scheme are not penalised as a result.
• General eligibility is defined in terms of having received blood, blood products or tissue from the NHS before September 1991. No payments will be made in respect of those who have died before 29 August 2003 or to people who have cleared the virus spontaneously in the acute phase of the disease. In the case of eligible people who die after 29 August 2003 payments will be made to their estate.
• People who have been infected with HIV through blood, blood products or tissue on in the past, and have in addition contracted Hepatitis C in the same way, will be eligible for payments from the scheme in the same way as those who have only been infected with Hepatitis C.
• People who have cleared the virus as a result of treatment or who have cleared it spontaneously after a period of chronic infection will be eligible for payments from the scheme.
• It will be assumed that people who have developed Hepatitis C after being treated with Factor VIII or Factor IX blood clotting factor concentrates were infected as a result of that treatment. Virtually all haemophiliacs will fall into this category..
• If people have received compensation from other sources in connection with their infection, Skipton Fund will not make any deduction from any award to take account of this.
• Applicants will only need to provide basic personal details to the Skipton Fund but will need to ask their doctor to complete the main section of the application form which details information to support their eligibility.
  
• If the Skipton Fund decides that an applicant is not eligible for payment they will write explaining the reason for this decision. The applicant can then apply to the independent appeals panel.
  
• Applicants will not need legal advice when completing the application form and they will not be asked to sign any waiver. The scheme will not reimburse legal costs incurred in making a claim or in appealing against a decision by the Skipton Fund.

People wishing to apply for a payment should contact the Skipton Fund at:
PO Box 50107, London SW1H 0YF

Phone : +44 (0) 20 7 808 1160
E-mail : apply@skiptonfund.org)
Website : www.skiptonfund.org