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Criminal Injuries Compensation Online
Claim compensation for injuries caused by crime quickly and easily online.
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Once upon a time . . .
. . . there was a youth. Let’s call the youth Peter, although that is not his real name. Peter was 11 years old. His father dropped him off one evening at a local supervised youth club. Peter had been there before once or twice. While there he started talking to a couple of friends that he knew from school. His friends introduced him to two other youths that Peter had not met before and his friends had met for the first time that evening. They were older than Peter. Let’s call them George and Biff. No one knows their real names because they subsequently disappeared without trace.
A game started - “tag” but with a twist - when caught, the person being “tagged” had to be thrown to the floor. The supervisors clocked on to the game being played and banned it. As soon as the supervisors went, George and Biff restarted the game. Peter did not want to join in. George and Biff tried to force Peter to play and threatened him with violence if he did not. Peter refused and went to sit out of the way on a window ledge.
The window ledge Peter was sitting on was about five feet high. George and Biff took exception to Peter refusing to play. They approached him and grabbed hold of his feet. They pulled him from the window ledge. They ought to have known that pulling him from the window ledge would cause him injury. To make sure, Biff swung a kick at Peter’s arm as he was falling, causing his arm to fold under his body. Peter broke his arm in two places.
Peter’s father was called. He arrived within 5 minutes and took Peter to hospital. Shortly afterwards the police arrived at the youth club. George and Biff had left in the meantime and have not been traced since. The police quickly took the view, without talking to Peter, that the incident had arisen from kids fooling around.
The following day, when Peter was released from hospital, he called the police to make a complaint. He went to the police station and was interviewed by officers specially trained to interview children. The interview was recorded on video. During the interview Peter was clear and consistent about what had happened. He was not involved in a game when the incident had happened - he was avoiding being involved. George and Biff had pulled him from the ledge maliciously, not as a prank. And in any event, Biff had swung a kick at him on the way down.
George and Biff were not traced, and no arrests were made in relation to the case.
However, Peter had been the victim of a crime of violence and was therefore able to make a claim for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation scheme.
Victim Support filled out the forms for Peter. You needn’t bother with a solicitor, he was told. The CICA will come to the same conclusion whether you fill in the form or ask a solicitor to do it for you.
After 12 months, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority eventually returned a decision. There had been no crime of violence, they said. This was a case of children fooling around. And in any event, no arrests had been made.
At this stage, Peter sought the assistance of a solicitor. A review was applied for. It was argued that there had clearly been a crime of violence. George and Biff had known or had been reckless as to whether an injury had been caused. And on the evidence of the only traceable witness to the incident, Peter himself, the incident had not been “fooling around”. It had been malicious.
The review decision was returned nine months later. Again, the claim was rejected. The same reason was provided: this was not a crime of violence. Peter was advised to appeal. In the meantime, the solicitors applied for and obtained the video interview that Peter had given to the police at the time, all of the contemporaneous police records and the reports that had been provided by the police to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
The video was provided to the appeal panel. On the day of the hearing, the panel watched the video. The panel, consisting of a lawyer, a doctor and a prominent business man, listened intently to Peter’s story. It was suggested by the representative for the CICA that this was “fooling around” and Peter was clear that it was not. The police officer who attended said that they had tried to find George and Biff and that if they had been traced it was likely that they would have been questioned in relation to the assault.
The Appeals Panel decided that Peter had been involved in a crime of violence and made an award in excess of £4000.00
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The morals of the story
There are a number of morals to the story, but the main ones are:
- Crimes of violence come in different shapes and sizes. All crimes of violence may lead to a successful claim for compensation
- The decision provided by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority is not always right in the first instance. It may be worth applying to review or appeal the decision of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
- By instructing a solicitor to assist you with the claim, you may obtain evidence that would not otherwise have been available to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority when making their decision. This may effect the outcome of the claim.
- A solicitor can provide valuable assistance to you both in terms of advising you about procedure and representing you at an appeal if necessary. It is always beneficial to instruct a qualified and experienced solicitor to assist you with your Criminal Injuries Compensation Claim.
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What is the CICA?
The CICA is responsible for administering the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. The scheme was introduced in 1964 to provide financial compensation from the government to victims of violent crime to recognise their injuries. The CICA now receives around 70,000 applications for compensation every year, and annually pays more than £200 million to victims of violent crime. More than £3 billion has been paid in compensation since the scheme was set up.
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Who can receive compensation from the CICA?
The CICA was created to support the blameless victims of violent crime. For example, if a person is injured, even seriously, in a fight where they threw the first punch, then they will not
receive compensation from the CICA.
To be eligible for compensation from the CICA, you must:
• be a victim of a violent crime;
• be physically and/or mentally injured as a result;
• have sustained the injury in England, Scotland or Wales: If you were injured on holiday abroad, you won’t be eligible. If you were injured in Northern Ireland, you should apply to
the Northern Ireland Compensation Agency;
• be injured seriously enough to qualify for the smallest award paid under the scheme (£1,000) – generally, minor injuries are not sufficient;
• be a dependant or the parent, child or partner of a victim of violent crime who has since died.
People injured as a result of a traffic crime (such as dangerous driving) are not eligible for compensation, unless the vehicle was deliberately used as a weapon to injure them.
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If people meet all these criteria, will they definitely get
an award?
Not necessarily. Victims can be refused compensation if:
• their own conduct led to their injury (for instance, if they started a fight in which they were injured);
• they have failed to co-operate fully with the police investigating the crime;
• they have failed to co-operate fully with the CICA, for instance by providing false or misleading information; or
• they applied more than two years after the injury occurred – although late applications can be allowed in exceptional circumstances, for instance if the victim was injured as a child
or in a sexual crime.
If the victim has a criminal record, that will also be a factor in deciding whether they are granted a full or reduced award or no award at all.
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How large are awards, and how are they decided?
The value of awards is determined by a tariff system that assigns each specific injury a fixed amount of compensation. This system was originally set up on 1 April 1996, following the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1995. The system was amended in April 2001. If a victim has broken their leg, for example, it’s usually quite straightforward to fix the amount of compensation they are due. However, claims involving less obvious physical or mental injuries
can be much more complicated.
Awards under the tariff range from £1,000 to £250,000. In serious cases, victoms may also be compensated for lost earnings or special expenses (such as medical costs).
Evidence is gathered by the CICA to determine:
• what caused the victim’s injury;
• how serious the injury is;
• whether there were other contributing factors (for instance, we
may have to reduce an award if a victim who suffers a back injury
had previously had back problems: we can compensate only
for that part of the injury due directly to the crime of violence);
• whether an award should be refused or reduced for any reason; and
• whether there is any valid claim for loss of earnings and special
expenses.
For fatal injuries, enquiries will focus on the eligibility of the claim by the dependants and/or next of kin, the extent of their financial loss and so on.
If applicants are unhappy with a decision, they can ask for their claim to be reviewed by a more senior member of staff. If they are unhappy with the outcome of the review, they can then take the case to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel (CICAP), which is independent from the CICA.
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How long does it take to assess an application?
It usually takes us at least six months for the CICA to get all the information they need and, on average, it takes around nine months for them to make a decision.
The more information applicants supply to the CICA, such as a crime reference number and full details of the crime, the faster they can settle the claim.
If a case is complicated, a decision can take longer:
• If the person who injured the applicant is involved in a criminal trial, the CICA normally have to wait for that to finish before making a decision.
• It may take many months to be clear what the long-term effects of injuries will be.
• The CICA will have to collect information about an applicant’s past and future loss of earnings, if they are claiming for this.
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CICA:the facts
•Each year, the CICAreceives around 70,000 applications for compensation and pays out around £200 million in awards.
•Awards range from £1,000 to £250,000.
•To be eligible for an award, applicants have to be a blameless victim of violent crime occurring in Great Britain, and co-operate fully with the police and the CICA. They usually also have to apply within two years of the incident.
•The size of the award is fixed by a tariff system. Under that system, every person with the same injury will get the same predetermined amount, regardless of their personal
circumstances.
•In serious cases, additional compensation is available for lost earnings and medical and care expenses.
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