BILLIONS of pounds worth of funding will be set aside to compensate victims of two major scandals Rachel Reeves has announced in the Budget.

A total of £11.8billion will be set aside to compensate those impacted by the infected blood scandal and £1.8billion to compensate victims of the Post Office scandal the Chancellor told the Commons today. 

Public inquiries into both scandals have recommended swift and generous compensation packages for those who have suffered injustices, but Reeves claimed the previous Conservative government had "failed to budget" for the costs of this.

She said: "The previous government also failed to budget for costs which they knew would materialise. That includes funding for vital compensation schemes for victims of two terrible injustices: the infected blood scandal and the Post Office Horizon scandal.

"The Leader of the Opposition rightly made an unequivocal apology for the injustice of the infected blood scandal on behalf of the British state, but he did not budget for the costs of compensation.

"Today, for the very first time, we will provide specific funding to compensate those infected and those affected, in full with £11.8 billion in this Budget.

"I am also today setting aside £1.8 billion to compensate victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal, redress that is long overdue for the pain and injustice that they have suffered."

The infected blood scandal saw thousands of NHS patients becoming infected with HIV and hepatitis C after being given contaminated blood products between the 1970s and early 1990s. 

The Glasgow Times reported earlier this year that a report highlighted that decisions made at a Glasgow hospital led to 21 children being infected with HIV. 

In the Post Office-Horizon scandal, thousands of subpostmasters were accused of fraud due to faulty accounting software.

Some were jailed or forced to pay back thousands of pounds while others were ostracised by their communities for crimes they did not commit.