Sir Robert Francis, interim Chair of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) is holding a series of meetings this week with campaign groups, individuals and charities.
The meetings will be with Sir Robert, as well as with David Foley, interim Chief Executive of the new Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), and Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery, who led the government’s expert group on compensation.
The Hepatitis C Trust has been invited to meet with them on Wednesday 19 June.
Meeting details
Our meeting will take place online over two hours and will be held jointly with other campaign groups and individuals that have been invited by IBCA.
One representative from each group is permitted at the meeting, plus a legal adviser who can only observe. Our CEO, Rachel Halford, will attend on our behalf.
We understand there are a total of four meetings this week involving approximately 20 other campaign groups and individuals.
We do not anticipate being permitted to share details of the meeting discussion publicly, but understand that summaries of all of the meetings will be published on the IBCA’s website.
We have been asked to prepare feedback on five specific areas:
- Future of the Current Support Schemes
- Severity Bands
- Care and Financial Loss Awards
- Evidence Requirements
- Equalities Impact
We will also be bringing questions and concerns we’ve heard through our helpline and other community engagement.
Community Meetings
We understand that meetings are also being arranged with community members, chosen at random from people who have signed up to feed in to the IBCA design. To our knowledge, these are in addition to the four meetings with campaign groups but we don’t have any information about these.
Contacting the IBCA
If you wish to contact the IBCA directly about any of your own concerns or views of the proposals, you can reach them at ibcaenquiries@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.
Timetable
We do not know yet how long this period of consultation will last. However, Sir Robert has said he wants to present the findings of the consultation to ministers as soon as possible following the general election on 4 July.