Claiming Criminal Injuries Compensation

Criminal injuries compensation provides is a form of personal injury compensation for individuals who have been subject to a physical or verbal assault. When you have been the blameless victim of a violent crime, it is important to you first and foremost, that criminal justice is done in the courts of law but also that you receive financial compensation for the psychological and physical pain, loss of earnings and any loss of ability you have incurred following your injury.

1. Personal Injury Claim against Assailant: this is not the recommended route to take, even though it is a possible one. The potential pitfall when entering a claim directly against the assailant is that you may find you win the claim in court but are unable to receive the financial compensation from the assailant themselves as judgements made this way are difficult to enforce, particularly if the assailant does not have the funds available to pay the full compensation amount.

2. Personal Injury Claim against Employer: this type of claim is possible when you feel strongly that your employer is at fault. In this case the incident must have taken place whilst at work and also you must feel strongly that your employer put you in an unnecessary position of danger of personal injury. To contextualise this point, perhaps you had entered multiple complaints about bullying at work or violent exchanges in the workplace which you felt were ignored, or not dealt with by your employer with due severity.

3. Claim via the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA): the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority is specifically for this type of claim. The ministry of justice provides a free service for individuals who have been victims of violent crimes. The award amounts tend to range from around £1,000 to £500,000 depending on the crime, the context, and the effects on the claimant. The CICA has:

– A 2 year time limit on claims as opposed to the 3 year time limit usually allowed for personal injury claims.

– No payable legal fees

– No dealings with claims which are valued at less than £1000, the CICA deal with serious injury claims only.

– A cap on the amount that you can receive in terms of reimbursement of earnings if you are a high earner and do not reimburse earnings for the first months following the injury.

– To take into account your behaviour in terms of criminal records, previous violent convictions and any other relevant information will be taken into account when assessing the compensation amount payable.

You may be able to make a claim through the CICA and also enter a personal injury claim against your employer or your assailant. Contact a specialist personal injury solicitor today to talk through your options.

Contact our legal team

If you would like to discuss this matter, please get in touch with our team for a consultation.