The campaign group Vaccine Injured and Bereaved UK (VIBUK), which was set up to support families affected, said the scheme was not fit for purpose.
“It offers too little, too late, to too few and the cost of running it shows how inefficient it is,” said the group’s representative Kate Scott, whose husband Jamie was left severely disabled by the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine.
Scott called on the government to act on the recommendations from module four of the Covid public inquiry and reform the scheme.
Earlier this year, the Covid inquiry’s chair, Baroness Heather Hallett, recommended increasing the payout and basing it on the degree of injury suffered.
The government is due to respond to her recommendations.
The BBC has previously reported on the large sums paid to an external medical provider which has been carrying out medical assessments.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance, a right-leaning think tank which campaigns for lower taxes and spending, said that the public would be “stunned” that the running costs of the scheme appeared to be “far more than has actually been paid out to those harmed”.
“When administrative costs are running into tens of millions, ministers need to explain why the system is so expensive and whether victims are getting value from it,” said the organisation’s chief executive John O’Connell.
He called for the government to urgently review the scheme, cut “unnecessary bureaucracy” and make sure “more of the money goes to those it was created to help.”
The Department for Health and Social Care said it is “carefully considering” the COVID-19 Inquiry’s recommendations on reforming the scheme and “will respond shortly”.
“In the meantime, we are working to speed up claims and improve the experience for applicants,” the government said.
NHSBSA said it continued to work “closely” with the government on “managing the costs of the VDPS”.
