Victims of Criminal Assault / Injury

Are You a Victim of crime?

If you have been injured as a result of a violent crime you may be entitled to compensation payment under the Government’s CICA Scheme. This is a public funded scheme established to administer compensation to the victims of a crime of violence. The amount of compensation awards for eligible victims are based on the scheme tariff of injuries and additionally where qualifying for financial losses and expenses. Injuries sustained have to be directly attributed to a crime or one of the allowable causes.

Crimes of violence usually involve a physical attack on the person e.g. assault, wounding and sexual offences. Within the scope of the scheme mental trauma injury sustained by a person may be considered where it can be established that a crime of violence or other allowable cause has taken place.

An application to claim for compensation must be made and submitted within 2 years from the date of the incident causing injury. The incident must have been reported to the police without reasonable delay.

In general the injuries must have been sustained and the crime must have been committed in Great Britain (England, Scotland or Wales). The scheme includes the Scottish islands and excludes the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. Special rules apply for injuries sustained in the Channel Tunnel, on certain offshore installations and also on British ships, hovercrafts and aircraft.

Personal injury within the scheme includes:

The scheme also includes, under special rules, personal injury due to:

In certain circumstances an application for compensation may also be made for a fatal injury award and/or dependency award and/or loss of parental services following the death of a victim of a crime of violence.

Crimes of violence must be reported to the police. Reporting the incident to other authorities will not normally be acceptable e.g. employers, Trade Unions or Social Workers. Non-reporting to the police for fear of reprisals will not generally be accepted.
It is important that the victim of violence co-operates with the police in bringing the offender to justice. An application for a compensation award may be prejudiced, reduced or withheld for failure to co-operate with the police.

The offender does not necessarily have to be convicted for an award of compensation to the victim. Some offenders are never found or may have died.

The minimum CICA compensation award on the scheme tariff is £1,000 rising to a maximum of £250,000. Contact us to see if you qualify within the scope of the scheme for a compensation award payment.

Back to accident types