Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom. The Authority administers a compensation scheme for injuries caused to victims of violent crime in Great Britain and is funded by the Ministry of Justice in England and Wales and the devolved Scottish Government in Scotland.

Since the scheme was set up in 1964, the Authority and its predecessor, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, have paid more than £3 billion in compensation, making it among the largest and most generous of its type in the world, although it has been criticised on occasions for failing to provide adequate compensation to victims of serious crime, particularly parents of murdered children and rape victims, and for claiming that the applicant was a contributor to the incident from which they sustained their injury.

Since the closure of its London office, CICA has employed 450 civil service staff from the Scottish Government and the Ministry of Justice in an office in Glasgow to process and decide on applications for compensation from victims of violent crime. Each year, some 65,000 applications are received and nearly £200 million is paid in compensation payments.

Until 1996, awards were set according to what the victim would have received in a successful civil action against the offender. However, since April 1996, the level of compensation has been determined according to a scale set by Parliament. The scheme and the 1996 tariff were revised in 2001. The tariff has descriptions of more than 400 injuries; each is attached to one of 25 levels of compensation between £1,000 and £250,000. In certain cases, victims may also apply for financial loss compensation (for example, through loss of earnings or medical care costs).

An amendment to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme has been passed by Parliament and will come into effect from 3 November 2008. All claims registered on or after this date will be dealt with under the 2008 scheme. Ongoing claims registered before this date will still be dealt with under the 2001 scheme.

Generally, claims must be based on crimes that have been reported to the police,^[1] although a conviction is not necessary as claims are based on the civil law principle of balance of probabilities^[2] rather than the "beyond reasonable doubt" method used in UK criminal courts.

Appeals against decisions of the Authority can be made to the First-tier Tribunal.

The current (August 2009) Chief Executive is Carole A. Oatway.

References

1. ^ CICA Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2008 - A guide p13
2. ^ CICA Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2008 - A guide p28

External links

• CICA website