From Aberfan to Manchester Arena, victims face 'disgraceful' fight for help

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Unable to work, he lived on savings while paying for rehabilitation and physiotherapy. He ultimately secured compensation through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (Cica), but only after years of applications, medical evidence requests and assessments.

"It was dehumanising, it was humiliating," he said.

"It made me feel like they didn't believe me."

Price said many survivors had given up pursuing compensation because the process had been too traumatic.

"If something happened tomorrow, people would still go through what I've come through," he said. "It shouldn't be like that."

His solicitor, Terry Wilcox, who worked on both the Manchester Arena and Hillsborough campaigns, argued that too little had changed.

"We had to become social workers, we had to become care providers," he said, describing how lawyers found themselves helping their clients to access counselling, rehabilitation and benefits.

Wilcox said some Manchester Arena survivors had become destitute after losing their income and that lawyers had often been left arranging support that should have come from the state.

"That should not be the role of the solicitor," he said.

"Without a fundamental change, it's going to happen time and time again."

He also criticised delays within the compensation system, saying even straightforward claims could take years to progress and that victims were often left "banging your head against the brick wall".

Both Wilcox and Edwards point to a wider pattern stretching from Aberfan and Hillsborough to the Post Office and infected blood scandals. There have been repeated promises that lessons will be learned, followed by fresh complaints that victims are left to fight alone.

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