Criminal Injuries CICA Free Advice On Payouts
If you are filing a criminal injury compensation claim against a third party, it is important to know that the statutory time limit associated with this type of claim stands at 2 years from the date the traumatic incident occurred. As such, you should not think about waiting for the outcome of a Court decision in order to make your case because if you do, you may find that you run out of time. To find out more about making a criminal injury compensation claim, please read on.
The Statutory Time Limit to Making a Criminal Injury Claim
As previously mentioned, the statutory time limit for making a criminal injury claim through the CICA is 2 years from the date of the incident. It is possible to check if your case would be within the time limit on the CICA website. However, the CICA would consider extending the time limit if the following applies:
- The incident occurred when you were under the age of 18. Should this be the case, the 2 year time limit to filing a criminal injury claim would begin on your 18th birthday. However, should you wish to make a claim when you are under the age of 18, you have the right to do so bearing in mind that the sooner a case is filed, the sooner the CICA can begin their investigations and the faster a settlement would be reached
- You were the victim of historic sexual abuse which was not previously reported. As soon as you report the crime to the Police, the 2 year time limit would begin to run even if 7 years have passed before the crime was reported to the authorities
- You suffer severe psychological issues as a result of the traumatic event you were subjected to and as such, you were not in a position to file a criminal injury claim within the time limit. However, you would need to show evidence that is provided by either a Consultant Psychologist or a Consultant Psychiatrist for your claim to be considered by the CICA because a medical report from a therapist, counsellor or GP would not be sufficient to seek compensation under the scheme
- An application to CICA was not made to the authority any earlier due to very exceptional circumstances
- Further extensive enquiries have to be carried out by a claim’s officer to support the evidence that has already been provided
- If the Same Roof Rule applies to your application
Should you want the CICA to consider an application for an incident that happened more than 2 years ago, you have to provide adequate proof that it would have been impossible for you to send in an application to the scheme any earlier. On top of this, the supporting evidence that you provide must be sufficient for a claims office to come to a decision without needing to carry out further extensive investigations into your claim for compensation through their scheme.
What Does Same Roof Rule Mean?
The time limit to making a criminal injury claim when the “same roof rule” applies to an application is also different from the normal 2 year time limit associated with this type of claim. If you applied in the past but your application was turned down, you now have the right to reapply because the “rule” is no longer part of the scheme. In short, whereas before the “same roof rule” stopped anyone being awarded compensation for incidents that happened between August 1964 and September 1979 and the assailant was living under the same roof as family, they can now make a criminal injury claim through the CICA scheme.
With this said, applications must be received within 2 years from 13th June 2019 although the CICA does have the discretion to extend the deadline if your claim involves incidents that led to you being injured when you were a child, or exceptional circumstances meant that you could meet the 2 year time limit. You would also be required to meet all other eligibility criteria as set out within the 2012 Scheme for your claim for compensation through the scheme to be upheld.
How Does the CICA Come to a Decision on a Criminal Injury Claim?
The CICA bases a decision on the “balance of probabilities” which differs from rulings made through the Criminal Court where decisions are made on the “beyond reasonable doubt”. It is essential that you start a claim through the scheme as soon as you can without waiting to hear the outcome of a criminal trial providing there is sufficient information relating to your case.
Criminal Injuries CICA Free Advice On Payouts
Would My Criminal Injury Compensation Claim be Valid?
The CICA would only compensate innocent victims of crimes of violence and people who lost their loved ones to violent crime. It is worth noting that there does not exist a legal definition for the term “crime of violence” but in Annex B of the CICA scheme, you can find lists that define what constitutes violent crime and what does not under the terms of the scheme.
It is also worth noting that the CICA would only award compensation to people who were the blameless victims of violent crime in England, Wales and Scotland or some other “relevant place” but this would depend on the circumstances surrounding the crime which could include the locations listed below:
- On an aircraft or hovercraft registered in the UK, chartered or owned by a UK resident, chartered or owned by someone whose principle place of business is located in the UK, that belongs to the armed forces (British)
- On ships that are owned by the Royal Navy, British citizens, companies registered in the UK, companies whose principle place of business is located in the UK, Scottish partnerships
- Gas and oil platforms that are located on the UK continental shelf
- Lighthouses that are located off the UK’s coast
- The Channel Tunnel as well as control zones
The Crime Must Be Reported to the Police
If you want to file a criminal injury claim through the CICA, under the scheme you must have reported the incident to the Police and been given a Police report reference number. Failure to have a Police report would mean that the CICA would not accept your criminal injury claim for compensation.
The incident that you were involved in must have been reported to the Police as soon as it is reasonably possible to do so. Ideally this should be immediately after the incident has occurred. Should you not have been able to report the crime to the Police, you would need to explain why there was a delay so that the CICA can assess whether you might have been able to file a report with the Police any sooner.
With this said, if any of the following applies to your claim, the CICA would take your delay in reporting the incident as being valid:
- At the time of the incident you were too young to report it to the Police
- You were deemed to lack the mental capacity to do so
- The extent of the injuries you suffered prevented you from reporting the incident
The CICA recommends that any crime of violence should be reported to the Police even if you have made a report elsewhere an example being to the person in charge in a workplace. Should an incident have occurred whilst you were on “duty”, providing you followed an employer’s procedures, the CICA would not penalise you for not reporting the incident to the Police straight away.
Seeking Legal Advice When Filing a Criminal Injury Compensation Claim Through CICA
Because there are many rules that must be respected when filing a criminal injury compensation claim through the CICA scheme, it is wiser to seek legal advice from an expert lawyer from the outset. This would ensure that there are no hold-ups with your application to the authority. A criminal lawyer has the legal expertise required to ensure that a CICA application is correctly filled out and that sufficient evidence is provided from the word go.
Seeking legal advice as soon as you need to also means that once a solicitor is happy that you have strong case, they would agree to advise you and to represent you on a No Win No Fee basis. The initial consultation would be free of charge and you would be under no obligation to continue with a criminal injury compensation claim should you not want to. The solicitor would guide you through all the legal pitfalls associated with this type of claim and would help ensure that your application is accepted so that the criminal injury compensation you deserve is awarded through the CICA scheme.
Informative Links
If you would like more information regarding the CICA scheme, the link provided below takes you to the Government website:
More in-depth information on the CICA scheme
To find more information regarding how the CICA assesses an application for compensation through the scheme, and whether you would be eligible, please follow the link provided below:
If you would like more information regarding the “same roof rule”, please click on the link provided below:
More information regarding the Same Roof Rule
Criminal Injuries CICA Free Advice On Payouts