Sexual Offences: Criminal Injuries Compensation

(asked on 22nd January 2024) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to extend the time limit for Criminal injuries Compensation Claims for victims of sexual abuse.


Answered by
Laura Farris Portrait
Laura Farris
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
This question was answered on 31st January 2024

The Government-funded Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (the Scheme) exists to compensate for serious physical or psychological injury attributable to being a direct victim of a crime of violence. As the Scheme is publicly funded, strict eligibility criteria apply.

There are already special arrangements in place for people applying for compensation for an injury sustained in childhood, and in all cases where a claim is made outside of the applicable time limit they can be considered in exceptional circumstances.

We recently held a public consultation on potential reforms to change the length of time people have to submit a claim to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. We asked for views on increasing the time limits for child victims of sexual abuse, as well as other violent crimes, and on increasing them for all applicants. We will make decisions about whether to amend the time limits as soon as possible in 2024 as part of our comprehensive review of the Scheme.

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