Personal injury solicitors for clients throughout England & Wales
England & Wales
If you have been injured as the victim of a crime of violence, there is a government scheme that exists to compensate people in your position. It is called the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, usually shortened to CICA. Our solicitors can explain how the scheme works and whether your circumstances may fall within it.
The scheme is genuinely different from an ordinary personal injury claim, and that catches many people out. There is no need for anyone to have been caught or convicted, but there is a shorter time limit, a fixed tariff of awards, and a set of conditions that have to be met. Understanding those early avoids wasted effort.
Yes, in many cases. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority is a government scheme that awards compensation to people physically or mentally injured as a result of a crime of violence in Great Britain. An application does not require the offender to have been caught or convicted, and it is made to the scheme rather than to the person who caused the injury. Injury Law Specialists can explain the scheme and help you understand whether you may be eligible.
The most important thing to understand is that this is not a negligence claim. In an ordinary injury claim, you have to show that someone owed you a duty of care and broke it. A CICA application works differently. It depends on showing that you were the victim of a crime of violence and that you meet the conditions the scheme sets, which include cooperating with the police and applying within the time limit.
A second difference is how compensation is calculated. A negligence claim is valued individually, based on medical evidence about your particular injury and its effects. The CICA scheme instead applies a fixed tariff, with set amounts for specified injuries. That makes the process more predictable, but it also means the outcome may differ from what a civil claim would have produced.
These two routes are often confused, and the differences matter at almost every stage.
In some circumstances both routes may be available at the same time, for example where an offender with means could be pursued in the civil courts. That is a judgement which depends on the particular facts, and it is worth discussing rather than assuming only one option exists.
The scheme sets a number of conditions, and understanding them early avoids wasted effort. These are the ones that most often affect whether an application can proceed.
An application must normally be made within two years of the incident. This is shorter than the three years that applies to most negligence claims. There are limited circumstances in which the authority can extend it, including where the applicant was a child or lacked capacity, so a deadline that appears to have passed is still worth asking about.
The incident must generally have been reported to the police promptly, and the applicant is expected to cooperate with the police and with the authority. A delay in reporting can be a problem, and so can a decision not to assist an investigation, so it is worth taking advice before assuming a report was too late.
The scheme allows an award to be reduced or withheld where the applicant's conduct before, during or after the incident makes it inappropriate to pay the full amount. This can include provocation, involvement in criminal activity or failure to cooperate with the authority itself.
Certain unspent convictions can prevent an award or lead to a reduction. This is a specific area where early advice genuinely matters, because there are rules about which convictions are counted and the effect they have.
The scheme applies a minimum threshold based on the tariff. A claim cannot succeed unless the injury is serious enough to attract an award. The threshold is set out in the scheme rather than being a matter of discretion, so it can be assessed early.
The scheme covers crimes of violence occurring in Great Britain. Injuries sustained abroad generally fall outside it, and injuries sustained in Northern Ireland are dealt with under a separate arrangement. Where a crime occurred elsewhere, different advice is needed.
The main award is calculated from a fixed tariff, which sets specific amounts for specified injuries based on how serious they are. The tariff is published, so it is possible to see in advance what range a particular injury falls into, although the authority makes the decision on the medical evidence it receives.
Beyond the tariff, the scheme can in some cases add amounts for lost earnings and for special expenses such as treatment, care or equipment that were not available free of charge. These additional elements have their own conditions and limits, and they require supporting evidence.
Where a person has died as a result of a crime of violence, the scheme provides for a bereavement award and, in certain circumstances, a dependency award for someone who was financially dependent on the deceased. These applications require sensitive handling, and we approach them accordingly.
Applying to the scheme is one thing, and dealing with what happened is another. Victims of violent crime often have access to practical and emotional support that sits separately from any compensation. This can include support through local victim support services, and help from the police's own victim care arrangements in some areas.
Where the injury has caused psychological harm, the medical evidence for the application may need to come from a psychologist or psychiatrist rather than a physical injury specialist. That is a matter we can help arrange as part of preparing the application properly.
If you are already receiving support from another organisation, that does not conflict with making an application, and it is often helpful for both to work alongside each other.
A criminal injury claim is an application for compensation made to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, usually called the CICA. It is a government scheme that awards compensation to people who have been physically or mentally injured as a result of a crime of violence in Great Britain. It is a distinct scheme from an ordinary negligence claim, with its own rules, its own tariff of awards and its own time limits.
No. One of the important features of the scheme is that an application does not depend on anyone being prosecuted or convicted. A claim can be made where the offender was never identified. What the scheme does require is that you report the incident to the police promptly and cooperate with the police and the authority in their investigations, which is a condition of eligibility.
The time limit under the scheme is two years from the date of the incident, which is shorter than the three year limit that applies to most negligence claims in England and Wales. There are limited circumstances in which the authority can extend the time, including where the applicant was a child at the time or lacked capacity, or where the effects of the injury only became apparent later. Anyone concerned about the deadline should take advice straight away.
Awards are calculated from a fixed tariff that sets amounts for specified injuries according to their seriousness. The tariff is published, so it is possible to see in advance what bracket a particular injury falls into, although the authority decides on the medical evidence it receives. The scheme can in some cases add amounts for lost earnings and for special expenses, and where a person has died, a bereavement award and in some cases a dependency award may be available.
No, and the differences matter. A negligence claim is brought against the person or organisation responsible and is valued individually on the medical evidence. A CICA application is made to a government scheme and is valued from a fixed tariff. A negligence claim can recover a wider range of losses, but it requires someone to claim against. A CICA application does not require anyone to be identified, but the awards are capped by the tariff.
The scheme applies a threshold based on the tariff. A claim cannot succeed unless the injury is serious enough to attract an award under the tariff. This is set out in the scheme rather than being a matter of discretion, which means it can be assessed early, before significant time and effort is invested in an application that could not succeed.
Yes, in certain circumstances. The scheme allows an award to be reduced or withheld where the applicant's conduct before, during or after the incident makes it inappropriate to pay the full amount, including provocation or involvement in criminal activity. Certain unspent convictions can also prevent an award or lead to a reduction. These are areas where early advice genuinely matters, because the rules are specific.
In some circumstances both routes may be available, for example where an offender with means could be pursued in the civil courts as well as an application being made to the scheme. That is a judgement which depends on the particular facts. It is worth discussing rather than assuming that only one option exists, because the two routes have different advantages and different requirements.
The scheme rules and the tariff are published and are updated from time to time. Our pages explain the position generally, and the applicable rules are those in force at the relevant time.
Injury Law Specialists is a marketing and advertising platform and is not a law firm or a provider of regulated legal services. All personal injury legal advice, legal services, casework, representation, legal support, and any free initial assessment or consultation promoted or arranged through Injury Law Specialists are provided by MB Solicitors, a trading name of MB Legal Solicitors Ltd.
MB Legal Solicitors Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales under Company Number 12281731. The firm is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) under SRA ID 8000764 and is a member of The Law Society. Injury Law Specialists does not itself provide legal advice or carry out reserved legal activities. Any solicitor-client relationship arising from an enquiry will be directly between the client and MB Legal Solicitors Ltd.
Read our Regulatory InformationTell us what happened and a member of our team can explain how the scheme works and whether your circumstances may fit within it. The assessment is free and there is no obligation to proceed.
