Criminal Injuries Compensation

(asked on 20th July 2017) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) over-payments and (b) under-payments were made by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in (i) 2015-16 and (ii) 2016-17.


Answered by
Phillip Lee Portrait
Phillip Lee
This question was answered on 5th September 2017

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (the Scheme) is a government funded scheme which is designed to compensate victims of violent crime in Great Britain. The rules of the Scheme and the tariff for awards paid under it are approved by Parliament. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) administers the Scheme and decides all claims independently of Ministers and Parliament.

The CICA identified (a) 10 claims where an overpayment was made and (b) 11 claims where an underpayment was made in 2015-16. All underpayments were rectified with the exception of one claim (amounting to an £80 underpayment) where the applicant could not be traced. The CICA identified (a) 5 claims where an overpayment was made and (b) 3 claims where an underpayment was made in 2016-17. We will also seek to rectify all underpayments for the financial year 2016/17.

There is no minimum time period that must pass after the incident giving rise to the criminal injury before a claim can be made to the CICA. The Scheme requirements are that applicants send their claim so that it is received as soon as reasonably practicable after the incident and in any event no later than two years after the date of that incident.

Additional provision exists for applicants who were aged under 18 at the time of the incident:

  • If the incident was reported to the police before an applicant turned 18, and no-one made a claim on their behalf, they can apply to the CICA until the day of their 20th birthday.
  • If the incident took place before the applicant turned 18, but was not reported to the police at the time, they can apply to the CICA within two years from reporting the incident to the police.

The CICA can only extend these time limits where due to exceptional circumstances an application could not have been made earlier; and the evidence provided in support of the application means that it can be determined without further extensive enquiries by a claims officer.

We advise applicants not to wait until the conclusion of criminal proceedings before applying for compensation.

The CICA recruited a total of 108 staff during the financial year 2016-2017. The number of full time equivalent staff employed in CICA as at 31 March 2017 was 293.5. This is an increase from 255 as at 31 March 2016.

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