People infected with hepatitis C - stage 2 payment

If you have hepatitis C stage 2 you can claim:

• a one-off lump sum of £20,000
• regular payments - currently £32,555 a year
• annual winter fuel payments of £618

These rates are for the financial year 2023-24 onwards.

If you've been diagnosed with one of the stage 2 payment qualifying conditions you can apply for the stage 2 payment. This is on top of the £50,000 you should already have received for stage 1. If you have not received the £50,000 stage 1 payment, you'll need to successfully apply for this before applying for the stage 2 payment.

The payment amounts and assessment criteria may be reviewed in the future. This helps us respond to the changing needs of beneficiaries and the latest clinical evidence.

You can apply to the scheme for hepatitis C stage 2 payment if you have or have had:

• cirrhosis
• primary liver cancer
• B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• a liver transplant, or are on the waiting list to receive one
• type 2 or 3 cryoglobulinemia accompanied by membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) 

To make a claim, you need to download and complete a hepatitis C stage 2 application form (PDF: 190KB).

Alternatively, we can post an application form to you. To request this, contact us.

Medical practitioner’s evidence

As part of the application process, you'll need to arrange for your medical practitioner to complete parts 1 to 8 of the application form and provide supporting evidence from your medical records.

This should be the specialist you're under for the qualifying condition you have been diagnosed with.

If you are not under the care of a specialist you should ask your GP or another doctor involved in your clinical care who has access to records to confirm you have one of the stage 2 qualifying conditions.

When completing the application form, the medical practitioner should provide information on the form and provide evidence from your medical records to confirm that you've been diagnosed with one of the stage 2 qualifying conditions.

We cannot approve your application if it is sent to us with:

• no evidence
• insufficient evidence

We'll aim to provide a decision on all applications within 30 working days. It may take longer if we need to ask you or your doctor for further information.

If the evidence provided by your doctor clearly shows that you suffer from one of the stage 2 qualifying conditions, then it is likely your application will be approved.

If approved, you'll receive a lump sum of £20,000 and your regular payments will be increased to the higher amount. The higher regular payments will be backdated to the start of the month we received the information necessary to approve your stage 2 application.

If your application is unsuccessful

We'll write to you with details of why your application was unsuccessful.

If you wish to appeal the decision, you should contact us within 3 months from the date on the letter. We may consider appeals received after 3 months, but only if you can provide a good reason for not contacting us earlier.

Find out how to appeal.

You'll have already received lump sum payments from the Skipton Fund.

If you've been diagnosed with one of the qualifying conditions for the stage 2 payment, you’ll have received the stage 2 one-off lump sum of £50,000 from the Skipton Fund (before the 1 April 2021 stage 1 payment).

You should also be receiving the regular payments from us, which are currently £32,555 a year, plus a winter fuel payment of £618.

If you have HIV and have been diagnosed with one of the qualifying conditions for the stage 2 payment, you’ll have received payments from MFET as well as from the Skipton Fund.

You should also be receiving the regular payments from us, which are currently £51,162 a year, plus a winter fuel payment of £618.

These rates are for the financial year 2023-24. The payment amounts and assessment criteria may be reviewed in the future. This helps us respond to the changing needs of beneficiaries and the latest clinical evidence.

The Skipton Fund, The Caxton Foundation, The Macfarlane Trust, The Eileen Trust, and MFET Limited (collectively known as the Alliance House Organisations (AHO)) have now closed.

If you were a beneficiary of any of these schemes before November 2017 and are not currently receiving support from EIBSS, you can request a check of your historical records.

To do this, you will need to contact us directly.

As long as you provide written consent, your details will be transferred to the new scheme.

If you were getting regular payments, you'll start to receive these from us.

We'll also tell you how to apply for any extra support you might be eligible for.