If you were the victim of a violent crime and suffered injuries, for a case to be accepted by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, the incident must have been reported to the Police. When filing an application, you would need to provide a Police crime reference number and the CICA would also need to get in touch with the Police to ensure that you fully cooperated with them.
To find out more about reporting a crime of violence to the Police and the rules associated with making a CICA claim, please read on.
Why a Police Report is So Essential When Making a CICA Claim?
A Police report is key to whether the CICA would accept your claim for compensation through the Scheme. It is the first thing that the CICA requests before they investigate a case. The report the Police provide is used by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority as a way of establishing whether you are a blameless victim of a crime of violence and as such would qualify you for compensation through the 2012 Scheme.
A Police report would also help establish that you were fully cooperative which is an absolute necessity. The CICA would ask the Police whether you were cooperative or not and whether you provided a complete and full written statement. Should you not have provided the Police a full statement for whatever reason, whether it was the Police’s fault or yours, the CICA could turn down a claim for compensation through their scheme.
There may well be very genuine reasons for not wanting to cooperate with the Police which could be any of the following:
- You were too busy working
- You did not see anything
- You were too scared to give the Police a full statement
- You want to withdraw the statement you gave the Police
Should any of the above apply to your case, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority would reject your case.
Do The Police Have to Prosecute For Me to File a CICA Claim?
This would depend on the circumstances surrounding the incident in which you suffered injuries at the hands of an assailant. With this said, the more evidence and information that you provide the Police, the stronger the chance would be that a prosecution would be bought against your assailant and the better the chance there would be of your CICA claim being accepted. However, it is worth noting that you would not need a conviction to make an application for compensation through the CICA, you would just need to have a prosecution.
With this said, a Police prosecution may not always be required for you to be able to file an application through the CICA Scheme. Should you have been assaulted by someone and they stabbed you before running off, it is obvious that you were the blameless victim of a crime of violence and your assailant remains unknown. As such, your claim for compensation to the CICA would be upheld. Other reasons why a prosecution may not be required includes the following:
- You were the victim of historic sexual abuse, but your abuser is no longer alive. Providing there is sufficient evidence to support your case, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority would consider paying you compensation through their Scheme
What Should I Do When I File an Application to the CICA?
There is a procedure that must be followed when filing an application for compensation through the CICA and this includes the following:
- Never wait for the outcome of a trial before filing an application to the CICA. The reason being that there is a strict 2 year time limit that must be respected and even if you are a day late in making your application, the CICA would reject your case. CICA bases the way they pay compensation to victims who are “blameless” and not because an assailant is convicted of the crime
- Make sure that the injuries you suffered are listed in the 2012 CICA tariff of injuries scheme. If your injury is not listed, your application would be turned down. The other thing to bear in mind is that an injury must be worth £1,000 for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to consider
- Ensure that you have given a full written statement to the Police. If you were hospitalised as a result of the injuries you sustained and therefore unable to provide a statement to the Police straight away, make sure that you do so as soon as you possibly can. The CICA must have a Police report and determine that you fully cooperated with them for your case to be considered
- Should your case involved historic sexual abuse, a report must be made to the Police before you can make an application through the CICA scheme. Once a Police report has been made, you have 2 years to file an application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority which begins from the date you reported the crime. However, the sooner a claim is filed, the sooner a decision can be made by the authority as to whether they accept the evidence you provided to the Police
- If you suffer any psychological injuries as a result of having been a blameless victim of a violent crime and you are including these in your CICA claim, you need to provide a medical report from a clinical psychiatrist or consultant psychologist for your case to be accepted. The CICA does not accept medical reports on mental health issues that are provided by a doctor or a therapist
- Make certain that you respect the strict 2 year time limit associated with CICA claims. If you wait for too long, you may find that your claim is deemed “out of time”
What Should I Not Do When Making an Application to the CICA?
There are several things that would have a negative impact on your CICA claim which include the following:
- You make an application to the CICA while you still have unspent convictions. The CICA reject applications when there unspent convictions against applicants
- Do not assume that an injury you sustained would entitle you to seek compensation. An example being that should you have sustained a broken nose it would not entitle you to make a CICA claim. The only exception would be if the bone at the top of your nose that joins to your skull and eye socket is broken (ethmoid bone)
If you are not sure whether you have unspent convictions and this includes drink driving, you should contact a legal expert who would ensure that any convictions are “spent” before submitting an application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
What Evidence Do I Need to Provide to CICA for Psychological Injuries?
As previously mentioned, the CICA would consider paying compensation if you suffered psychological injuries having been an innocent victim of a violent crime but you would need to provide adequate medical evidence in support of your claim. It is not enough to provide a medical report that you received from your GP or a therapist. For your claim to be accepted by the CICA, the medical report must be provided by a clinical psychiatrist or a consultant psychologist.
Should you be suffering from any sort of mental illness as a result of being assaulted or the victim of a violent crime, you should contact a criminal injury lawyer who would recommend how best to proceed when it comes to providing the necessary medical evidence for a claim to the CICA to be accepted.
What is the Time Limit to Reporting an Incident to the Police If I Want to File a CICA Claim?
You should report a crime of violence or an assault to the Police as soon as you can. Ideally, this should be immediately. However, if your injuries are severe and therefore you need to be hospitalised, you should file a report and provide the Police with a written statement as soon as it is feasibly possible. Without a Police Report and a Crime Reference Number, you would not be able to make an application to the CICA for compensation for the injuries you sustained.
What Happens if I Do Not Report the Crime to the Police?
If you do not have a Crime Reference Number, you would not be able to seek compensation for injuries you suffered, whether physical or psychological through the Criminal Injuries Scheme. One of the rules that apply to CICA claims is that you reported the incident to the Police as soon after it happened as possible. The authority would not accept a claim if you have not fully cooperated with the Police and provided them with a written statement.
If you have any questions relating to an incident that left you injured but which you could not report due to the injuries you sustained, you should contact a legal expert as soon as possible so they can offer advice on how best to proceed.
Should I Seek Legal Advice Before I Make an Application to the CICA?
You should always seek legal advice prior to making an application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. You need to ensure that your application has been correctly filled out and that the information you provided to the CICA is correct. Should there be errors in an application, not only could this result in long delays but it could mean that your CICA claim gets rejected. It would be wrong to assume that the CICA would help you should an application not be filled out correctly. It is much more difficult to correct mistakes made on your application if your case is rejected.
A legal expert would make sure that all the required evidence and your personal information is submitted correctly from the outset which reduces the risks of any delays or your CICA claim being turned down unnecessarily.
What Are the Benefits of Having a Criminal Injury Lawyer Represent Me?
As previously mentioned, a solicitor with vast experience in handling CICA claims for blameless victims of violent crimes or assaults, understands that time limits must be respected and that the criteria that entitles victims to seek compensation through the Scheme must be adhered to for a case to be accepted by the authority. Other benefits and advantages that a criminal injury lawyer would offer you would include but is not limited to the following:
- The solicitor would represent you on a No Win No Fee basis once they are happy that you are eligible and your injuries are listed in the CICA tariff of injuries (2012)
- That you do not have any unspent convictions – this includes drink driving offences
- Evidence that you did not contribute to the injuries you suffered in an assault or crime of violence
- Proof that you are of “good character” and that you fully cooperated with the Police having provided them with a written statement
- That you are informed of the progress of your CICA claim on a regular basis
- That you are told of how much you may receive in a successful CICA claim at the earliest opportunity
These are just some of the benefits of having a criminal injury lawyer represent you when making an application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. The solicitor would also be able to offer essential advice on how to report a crime of violence to the Police should your case involve historic sexual abuse or an assault on you when you were a minor.
Informative Links
To find out more information about the importance of a Police Report when filing an application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, please follow the link provided below:
The CICA rules relating to reporting an incident
If you were unable to work because you were the victim of an assault or crime of violence and would like to know if you could claim loss of earnings in a CICA claim, please click on the link below:
Claiming Loss of earnings through the CICA scheme
To find out more about the importance of fully cooperating with the Police when making an application to the CICA, please follow the link below: