The UK Government is to announce plans for a multi-million pound fund to help victims of Thalidomide.

Ministers in Westminster are also expected to give a formal apology to the families of more than 450 people left with severe disabilities because of the recklessly dispensed antenatal drug.

Under a deal expected to be finalised this week, the Department of Health will pay a grant of £20 million over three years to the Thalidomide Trust, which helps people living with the effects of the drug.

Campaigners hope that the Scottish Government, along with devolved assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland, could add a further £5m to the scheme.

Thalidomide, dispensed in the 1950s and 1960s to cure morning sickness and insomnia in pregnant women, caused terrible birth defects that have prevented most sufferers from living normal lives. An unknown number of babies were also stillborn or miscarried because of the drug.

It was withdrawn in 1961 after hundreds of children were born with limb deformities and other complications, but sufferers and their families have been adamant that it should never have been licensed in Britain the first place.

Other countries, including the US, refused to approve the drug, which was manufactured in the UK by Distillers Biochemical, now part of the Diageo

drinks firm.

Scottish sufferer Steve Sinclair, 49, said he was “delighted” by the breakthrough, though it was “50-odd years overdue”.

“The money will make a tremendous difference to our quality of life,” he said.

“Your average beneficiary is on about £18,000 a year just now and, depending on how it’s dished out, it’ll mean people getting about £36,000 per year.”

Though this might sound like a lot, Mr Sinclair added “thalidomiders” were often unable to get paid work, and incurred considerable costs in living with their condition.

A manually operated wheelchair would cost more than £4,000, he said, with electric models closer to £12,000.

Cars need to be adapted to accommodate thalidomide victims, with a typical cost of more than £50,000.

Mr Sinclair, originally from Lanarkshire but now living in the Borders, said he also supported a campaign by charity Thalidomide UK for the parents of all those affected to be invited to Westminster to hear the apology in person.

“I’m on record saying all I wanted was an apology but it’s not for myself – it’s for my parents and the manner they were treated in the 1960s. There are a lot of people around at that time who need to hang their heads in shame,” he said.

The late Enoch Powell, Health Minister at the time the NHS was using Thalidomide, has been singled out by many victims as the man with most to apologise for.

But a gesture by Prime Minister Gordon Brown would also be welcomed, said Mr Sinclair.

The drug’s UK manufacturer paid out around £28m compensation in the 1970s after a legal battle by families of victims, but the money ran out in the

late 1990s.

Under the new settlement, the grant would be reviewed after three years, but would probably be continued throughout the lifetimes of the families affected.

Thalidomide campaigner Guy Tweedy, 47, from Harrogate, said UK Health Minister Mike O’Brien had agreed to the deal after negotiations.

Over the last seven years, Mr Tweedy, with fellow thalidomider Nick Dobrik, has met 150 MPs, including Mr O’Brien and former health secretary Alan Johnson.

The drug was developed in the mid-1950s in Germany and in 1958 it was described by the British Government as a “great drug with proven value”.

A Department of Health spokesman said an announcement would come in due course.

The Scottish Government said it was too early to comment on whether or not it might contribute any funds to the payout. A spokesman said: “We value greatly the work of the Thalidomide Trust in supporting the

victims of the thalidomide tragedy.

“Thalidomide victims have also benefited, and continue to benefit, from ongoing improvements to the health and social care system. We will consider any funding requests in due course.”

Cure that harmed

THALIDOMIDE was a drug prescribed during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

It was developed as a sleeping pill but was also thought to be useful for easing morning sickness in pregnant women. However, it had not been tested for use in this way.

By 1960, thalidomide was found to damage the development of unborn babies, especially if it had been taken in the first four to eight weeks of pregnancy.

The drug led to the arms or legs of babies being very short or incompletely formed.

After it was found it had affected more than 10,000 babies around the world, it was banned.

It is now used as a treatment for leprosy and bone cancer and its use is heavily regulated.