Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the reformed discretionary support scheme for people affected by contaminated blood will consider (a) housing benefit or (b) jobseeker’s allowance in calculating eligibility for financial support for (i) widows and widowers of people affected and (ii) other beneficiaries.

Nicola Blackwood

In 2017/18, as part of the wider reform of the Infected Blood Payments Scheme in England, a new discretionary scheme will replace the current three discretionary schemes. The new discretionary scheme is in design and the relationship between receipt of welfare support and eligibility for discretionary support from the new scheme has yet to be decided.