The Trust Deed

The original Trust Deed was signed on 15 March 2002.

In early 2010 the Department of Health agreed to a revision of the Scheme in order to simplify the procedure for making payments to Victims and their families and a revised Trust Deed was signed on 12 February 2010. The revised Trust Deed contains two versions of the Scheme, the first applies to victims diagnosed on or before 30 March 2010 and the second applies to victims diagnosed on or after 31 March 2010. The Trust Deed was further updated in May 2012. A copy can be obtained by clicking here.

The Trust Deed sets out the payments that the Trustees can make and to whom. The Trustees are obliged legally to make payments strictly in accordance with the terms of the Trust Deed, which includes an element of discretion in relation to some payments. This means that if a claim for payment falls outside the terms of the Trust Deed, the Trustees are not able to pay it. For example, claims put forward for expenses incurred after a Victim has died, which the Trustees have had to reject, because they had not been incurred for the victim’s benefit.

However, within the constraints of the Scheme, the overriding objective of the Trustees is to ensure all claimants receive their full entitlement to compensation.