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What type of claims can I make to CICA?

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) provide compensation to innocent victims of violent crimes. You can claim for a range of different reasons via the scheme, detailed in CICA’s extensive tariff system. There are strict eligibility criteria that you must meet for CICA to provide you with compensation.

Who is the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority?

The government introduced CICA in 1964, to ensure victims of violent crimes can get compensation, regardless of whether their attacker was caught or convicted. If you sustained physical or psychological injuries from the incident, you may be eligible to receive an award via the Scheme.

Depending on the extent of your injuries, CICA can give you between £1000 to £500,000. If you have more than one injury, you can claim for up to three. You’ll receive 100% of the tariff for the most severe injury, 30% for the second most severe, and 10% for the least severe.

Image of a man sat behind a desk in front of a laptop opening a letter in a brown envelope

What can I make a claim for?

Assault

Whether it was a random attack, committed by someone you know, or motivated by discrimination, you can claim to CICA for assault.

Sexual assault

This includes touching without consent, touching over clothes and rape.

Witnessing a crime

Seeing a violent crime take place can be deeply traumatic and cause mental health problems, which you can make a claim for under the scheme (in limited circumstances).

The death of a loved one

If you lost a loved one to a violent crime, CICA can give you up to £11,000. If more than one person is submitting a claim, you can each receive £5500. You can also receive a payment of up to £5000 to cover funeral costs.

Domestic abuse

This includes aggressive and violent behaviour, bullying, and sexual assault.

Psychological injuries

A violent crime doesn’t have to physically harm you, for you to be eligible for compensation. To receive compensation via the Scheme, all mental health conditions need to be diagnosed by a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist and have significantly impacted your day-to-day activities for at least six weeks.

Victim of a terror attack

The physical and mental repercussions caused by a terror attack qualify for CICA compensation, regardless of whether the attack happened in the UK or abroad.

Child abuse

If you are making the claim on behalf of a child, the compensation will be held in an interest-building account until they turn 18. You can also make a claim for historic sex abuse after you become an adult, provided you have reported the crime to the police.

Taking a risk to your own safety to stop a violent crime

You can make a claim for injuries you sustained whilst attempting to prevent a violent crime.

Am I eligible for compensation?

To qualify for compensation for CICA, you must have reported the crime to the police without delay. However, the scheme does acknowledge that in some instances, such as domestic or child abuse, it is not always possible to inform the police immediately. If that is the case, then CICA will give special consideration to your claim.

You have two years to submit your claim. You must not wait for the outcome of court proceedings or you are likely to miss out on receiving compensation.

Crucially, you cannot make a claim to CICA if you aren’t an innocent victim. If you provoked the attacker you may not receive compensation. Furthermore, if you have a criminal record CICA will not approve your claim.

How can I make a claim?

Making a claim to CICA can be confusing as the forms require a significant amount of evidence, time, and detail to complete. Therefore, we highly recommend you consult a solicitor to help you get the compensation you deserve.

We can help you with your CICA claim

If you are ready to make a CICA claim, we can guide you through the process and make it as stress-free and easy as possible. We’ll help to gather all the evidence you need, give you regular updates on your claim, and take care of all the paperwork.

We offer a no-obligation consultation, where we will assess your situation and determine how best to proceed.

To get started on your claim, fill in our online form or give us a call on 0151 668 0827, and one of our expert CICA solicitors will be in touch.

 

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