A woman from Devon who tragically lost her 15 year old daughter as a result of the brain disease vCJD is leading a High Court case against the health secretary over the compensation scheme put in place for victims.

In 2002 the government set up the compensation scheme for the victims and the families who were affected as a result of the human form of BSE in 2000.

£67.5 million pounds was set aside for compensation for the first 250 cases and the scheme was set to be reviewed if this number was exceeded.  It was a no-fault lump sum and in part a discretionary compensation scheme and as a result the VCJD Trust was set up to manage it but the compensation scheme was complex and it cost millions of pounds in legal fees and led to long delays.

Mrs McVey, who lost her daughter to the disease claims that the claims procedure was too complicated and overwhelming and said it was an administrative nightmare.

In March 1007 the trustees proposed changes to simplify the scheme but in 2009 these proposals were turned down.  Although Mrs McVey’s compensation claims have settled she is fighting so  the process of claiming the compensation is made easier for other families in the future.