The taintedblood Timeline  -  what really happened...

The government agrees funding for the Macfarlane Trust charity to assist haemophiliacs who contracted HIV from contaminated blood products.

The Macfarlane (Special Payments) Trust is established on 29 January 1990, (partly out of funds provided by the Secretary of State).

The Government, in acknowledgement of its responsibilities for haemophiliacs who contracted HIV from contaminated blood products, makes an ex gratia payment to each one (or to the bereaved families) of £20,000 each.

The Macfarlane (Special Payments) (No. 2) Trust is established on 3 May 1991 (partly out of funds provided by the Secretary of State).

Further capital payments are made in settlement of potential litigation; these payments, which vary in amount according to the recipient's age and family status, total (by May 1993) about £44 million (including £316,000 paid to 158 people who had begun litigation proceedings).

Note: Over a third of the surviving registrants would have been classified as 'INFANTS' at the time of the 1991 settlement payments and, in consequence, received only £21,500 each.