On GOV.UK, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority’s community update of 6 August 2026 confirms that the fourth set of Infected Blood Compensation Scheme regulations came into law on 24 July 2026, amending the 2025 regulations after a 12-week government consultation on recommendations from the Infected Blood Inquiry’s Additional Report. IBCA said claimants do not need to take action at this stage and that the authority will contact people directly if the regulatory changes affect their claim or require further steps. (gov.uk)
IBCA’s latest operational figures, dated 28 July 2026, show 5,578 people invited to start a claim, 5,147 who had begun the process, and 3,415 who had been paid compensation worth just over £2.2 billion. The same update records 20,002 registrations of intent to claim, with IBCA noting that this reflects registrations rather than unique people or claims because some people may have registered more than once. (gov.uk) Compared with the authority’s 9 July 2026 update, that marks an increase from 5,105 invitations, 4,637 started claims, 3,335 payments and 19,565 registrations as at 30 June 2026. The comparison indicates continued movement through July, although it should be read alongside the later IT disruption disclosed in the August bulletin. (gov.uk)
IBCA has also given a clearer account of which groups are currently being brought into the scheme. According to the August update, everyone in the cohort of living infected people already registered with an existing support scheme has now been asked to start a claim, while living infected people who were never previously compensated are being brought in where they registered by mid-July and are nearing end of life, have advanced liver disease, or are aged over 75. (gov.uk) For deceased infected claims, IBCA said it is currently asking claimants aged over 75 who are acting on behalf of an estate to start the process. For affected people, the authority said it is presently asking those nearing end of life to begin claims. In practical terms, the rollout remains staged and urgency-led rather than fully open across every claimant group at once. (gov.uk)
The policy significance of the fourth regulations lies in what the Cabinet Office set out in its April 2026 consultation response. The department said the package would widen access to supplementary awards for infected people, increase some autonomy awards for those treated for bleeding disorders before 1986, and raise payments for Treloar’s cases, some people treated in childhood, and some adults treated before 1986. It also said some affected people would receive higher injury awards, especially certain bereaved partners, parents and affected adults whose own childhood was altered by the scandal. (gov.uk) IBCA’s August bulletin does not yet set out service-level processing dates for each of those changes, but it does confirm that the rules are now in force and that claimants do not need to act pending direct contact from the authority. The Cabinet Office has also said that people paid before the amendments took effect may require a review so that any further amount owed can be added later. (gov.uk)
The operational caveat in the August update is an internal IT failure. IBCA said a technical problem affecting the part of its system used to manage and move documents had been in place for the previous two weeks and had slowed the number of claims it could process. The authority said the issue affected internal systems only and did not place personal data at risk. (gov.uk) IBCA said a specialist team was fixing the fault and that claim managers were being supported to keep claims moving while repair work continues. That matters because the August figures otherwise point to continued throughput, but the pace in the next update will need to be assessed against this declared systems constraint. (gov.uk)
The August bulletin also contains several immediate administrative notices. IBCA said its 7 July 2026 Board meeting recording and minutes are available publicly, that it is recruiting users for service research on a first-come, first-served basis, and that an Ipsos survey on communications was due to close on Sunday 9 August 2026. Taken together, those steps show an authority still building formal feedback channels while the compensation service expands. (gov.uk) Separately, applications to the Infected Blood Interim Estates Payment Scheme close on 30 October 2026. IBCA said eligible estates are those where the deceased infected person was registered with an infected blood support scheme or Alliance House Organisation Scheme by 17 April 2024, had not already received final compensation from IBCA, and where the applicant holds the relevant probate or administration documents. The authority has urged eligible estates to apply early. (gov.uk)
On claimant protections, IBCA used the August update to give two explicit assurances. First, it said it would never use Victims and Prisoners Act powers to obtain records from the Infected Blood Psychological Service, and that any use of those records for a supplementary claim would depend on the individual choosing to provide them through a subject access request with consent. Second, it repeated that legal support is available at no cost through six independent firms and warned that conditional fee arrangements offered elsewhere may reduce compensation awards. (gov.uk) The immediate reading of the August 2026 update is therefore mixed. The legal framework has moved on, payment totals have continued to rise, and more cohorts are being brought into the scheme; at the same time, rollout remains selective, supplementary claims are not yet being processed, and an IT problem has introduced fresh operational drag. For policy professionals and claimant representatives, the next test will be whether the post-regulations phase turns those legal changes into faster and broader payment delivery. (gov.uk)