The Government has recently announced that their proposed changes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) scheme have been placed on hold.

These changes, if implemented, mean that no compensation will be payable for injuries worth less than £2,500.

The current minimum payment is £1,000 and there would be a substantial reduction of awards for injuries currently valued up to £11,000.

The CICA scheme is designed to compensate innocent victims of crimes of violence. When the scheme was first introduced the compensation was designed to be the same as would be awarded in a negligence claim, for example, in a road traffic incident where insurers would pay compensation.

Unfortunately, successive changes to what is now the CICA scheme have restricted compensation, for example, by limiting loss of earnings claims and by introducing a tariff-based scheme for assessing the appropriate level of compensation for injuries.

The announcement that the latest proposed reduction in compensation has been postponed, hopefully indefinitely, is positive news.

However, claims against the CICA can still be complicated with the scheme containing its own particular rules which have to be complied with before a claim can succeed.  As examples, the incident has to be reported to the police at the first available opportunity and the victim has to cooperate with any police enquiries – however, it is not necessary for the assailant to be convicted or even caught for a claim to be successful.

If you have been the innocent victim of a crime of violence, MKB Solicitors can help with such claims.  These cases are dealt with on a “no-win-no-fee” basis – this means that if you do not obtain compensation from the CICA you do not have to pay any legal fees.