Personal injury advice from
Thompsons Solicitors
Criminal Injuries – A Guide to Claiming Compensation
This document is designed as a helpful guide for the victims of violent crime on how to claim compensation for their injuries. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme was designed to assist the victims of assaults resulting in serious injuries to recover damages without the necessity of instructing a solicitor.
The scheme was set up by the state to provide some financial compensation to victims, as in many cases the assailant does not have the means to provide compensation and they would otherwise be left without recognition of their ordeal.
If you are a member of a trade union, you may be entitled to some free legal advice through your membership. It would therefore be wise to contact your union for guidance in the first instance. If you are not a union member and wish to pursue a claim in respect of a criminal injury yourself, you may find the following information helpful.
The Legal Line may be able to assist you with your criminal injury claim if your injuries were very severe or you are looking to pursue a claim against an employer in respect of an assault at work. To discuss this with one of our advisors, contact us on 0800 0328511, or complete a claim enquiry form online.
This fact sheet is intended as a general statement of the procedure and does not purport to render specific advice, legal or otherwise, specific advice on a particular problem should always be sought.
1. What Type Of Injury Does the Criminal Injuries Scheme Cover?
2. How Quickly Do I Need To Begin My Compensation Claim?
3. What Will I Need To Prove?
4. Criminal Injuries During The Course Of Work
5. Can I Claim For My Expenses / Loss Of Earnings?
6. When Can The Legal Line Help With My Criminal Injury Claim?
7. The First Steps
8. What Happens Next?
9. Example Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme Cases
1. What Type of Injury Does the Criminal Injuries Scheme Cover?
Only injuries sustained as the result of violent crime in England, Scotland or Wales (Northern Ireland has its own scheme) are covered by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.
The scheme is dealt with by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) at present and it only covers cases where the level of injury would reach a compensation value of £1,000 or more. As an example, a fractured finger with a good recovery would give rise to an award of £1,000. Injuries that do not require medical treatment and heal within a short period of time would be unlikely to reach the threshold.
A tariff system is in operation, where common types of injury are listed with their specified compensation values.
In cases where there are a number of injuries, the CICA will only award compensation for the 3 most severe. The scheme allocates 100% of the tariff value for the most serious injury, then 30% and 15% respectively for the second and third most serious injuries.
It may be that there are a number of more minor injuries, including for example abrasions, bruising, blackened eyes or minor wounds. If the symptoms are continuing for 6 weeks or more and at least two appointments with a medical practitioner are required, the case may be considered to reach the threshold with the combined values of the injuries. It is unlikely that minor injuries would be considered otherwise.
2. How Quickly Do I Need To Begin My Compensation Claim?
In contrast to personal injury cases for accidents, the time limit for injuries caused by violent crime is 2 years from the date of the incident.
Any application must be lodged within this period or the CICA may no longer be willing to consider the claim.
3. What Will I Need To Prove?
In order to be successful in making a claim for criminal injury compensation, you must be able to prove that you were the innocent victim of a violent crime and sustained a considerable injury as a result.
The CICA will usually require medical confirmation of the injury/s, in order to allocate the correct amount of compensation when using the tariff system.
If a victim of an assault has a criminal record, or is considered to have provoked the incident in any way, the CICA may reduce the amount of compensation awarded or withhold it altogether at their discretion.
The incident must also have been promptly reported to the police and a report filed. If it was not reported the CICA may decide not to award damages. Reporting any criminal assault to the police is essential as they will need to fully investigate the matter and bring the assailant before court on criminal charges.
4. Criminal Injuries During The Course Of Work
If your injuries were in some way caused by the negligence of your employer, for example if they could have foreseen that an assault would occur and should have taken greater measures to protect you, you may be able to claim compensation from both the CICA and your employers’ insurance (see our assaults at work page).
If a successful claim is made against an employer, the amount of damages awarded would to be deducted from any CICA award (or if the civil damages exceed the CICA award, the entire CICA award would have to be refunded if this had already been paid to the claimant).
5. Can I Claim For My Expenses / Loss Of Earnings?
It is possible to recover compensation in respect of lost earnings, however not for the first 28 weeks.
In some cases it may also be possible to recover special expenses, however this would not include solicitors fees as the scheme is set out so that it is not necessary to instruct solicitors. You may wish to have a solicitor handle the application for you anyway, however this would be at your own cost as agreed with them at the outset.
6. When Can The Legal Line Help With My Criminal Injury Claim?
If you feel that your employer is responsible for your injury, for example because they failed to take sufficient steps to protect you from a foreseeable risk of assault, we may be able to assist you in pursuing a claim against your employer. Further details can be found on our assaults at work page.
As detailed above, the CICA scheme is not set out to cover legal costs as it is possible to pursue a claim without instructing a solicitor. Therefore we would usually recommend that you contact the CICA directly to deal with the claim yourself.
In cases involving particularly serious or complex injuries however, our advice may be different. These are cases in which our expertise can be beneficial in ensuring that you receive the maximum amount of compensation possible. Examples of the types of cases we may be able to assist with include those involving; brain injuries, serious spinal injuries, serious burns, loss of a limb, loss of sight, fatalities, paralysis or any injuries causing a long term or permanent physical or psychological disability.
Contact us on 0800 0328511, or by completing a claim enquiry form online, for advice on whether we can assist you. If we can help with your criminal injury claim, we will agree upon an appropriate charging arrangement with you at the outset, and explain fully how this arrangement will work before asking you to sign an agreement.
7. The First Steps
• Report The Incident
You must ensure that any criminal assault is reported to the police immediately and explain fully how the incident occurred. If you are able to identify the assailant/s you should do so and you will need to cooperate with the police as necessary to assist them in apprehending and prosecuting them.
You should keep a written record of the details of any individuals that you deal with (i.e. names and positions of police officers etc) and ensure that, if relevant, the matter is also reported to your employer.
When providing information about your injuries, you should remember to include all injuries, regardless of how minor.
• Obtain And Complete A CICA Application Form
The free telephone number for the CICA is 0300 0033601 and forms can be downloaded from the CICA website.
You should include the full details of the assault, your injuries, any ongoing symptoms, any losses (including loss of earnings) and details of the report to the police. When you have completed the form as accurately and fully as possible, you can lodge it with the CICA.
8. What Happens Next?
Acknowledgement
When the CICA receive your form, they will send an acknowledgement to you with a reference number. You should quote this number on all future correspondence.
It may be several months following the acknowledgement before you hear from the CICA again. During this period they will deal with the application and look into the matter to decide whether they can accept it.
Decision
When the claim has been considered and the application processed, the CICA will write to you with their decision, either to accept or reject the claim.
If it is accepted, they will investigate the claim and calculate the relevant amount of compensation to pay. Details of the calculations will be provided to you.
If a claim is rejected, you can ask the CICA to outline their reasons for this decision. If you do not agree with these reasons, you can request a review of the decision, but this must be requested within 90 days. A formal appeal can also be made if the application is still not accepted following a review. Once again, the appeal must be requested within 90 days of the review decision.
When a decision is made on an application, you will receive guidance sheets from the CICA, explaining clearly how you can request an initial review or formal appeal. You should also remember that if you intend to rely on any supporting documents in your application, review or appeal, you should ensure that the CICA have seen copies.
9. Example Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme Cases
Claim 1
A lady was returning home from work at night when a mugger suddenly emerged from the shadows and jumped onto her back, knocking her to the ground. He viciously punched and kicked her to force her to release her handbag and, in the ensuing assault and struggle she sustained multiple injuries. The assailant succeeded in stealing her handbag and the few pounds that it contained, but only after the lady had been severely beaten.
The physical and psychological injuries left her traumatised and agoraphobic. She developed a deep distrust of strangers, groups of youths and anyone behaving in a rowdy fashion, which badly affected her formerly bubbly personality and enjoyment of life. She lost a lot of time at work and required lengthy counselling to help her overcome her resultant fears and phobias. She successfully claimed compensation from the CICA.
Claim 2
Firefighters were called to a house fire which had been caused by a firebombing. The elderly and infirm occupants had been the victims of an ongoing vendetta waged by other people living nearby, simply because they had reported those other people to the police for serious, unrelated criminal behaviour. The fire was started in the ground floor of the house and the occupants were trapped upstairs in their bedroom.
The firefighters placed their own lives at risk to enter the burning house and help the people inside to escape. The elderly couple made successful claims for compensation through the CICA.
Copyright The Legal Line July 2012
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