Claim Criminal Injury Compensation using the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority

Criminal Injury Solicitor

If you have suffered harm or losses due to an act of crime or violence Philip H Cuerden Solicitors can help you claim criminal injury compensation. Our Criminal Injury Solicitors work hard to ensure you receive the best possible service and the highest award possible.

For criminal injury cases we operate a NO WIN-NO FEE criminal injury scheme which means if your compensation claim is unsuccessful there will be no cost to yourself. You are under no obligation to make a claim and you will not be charged for our initial advice.

We also offer a confidential and sympathetic approach throughout a criminal injury claim as we understand that reliving the details of the incident can be distressing. Our criminal injury team is mainly female, as through our experience we realise that you may find it easier to talk to a female about what has happened to you.

What happens in a Criminal Injury Compensation Claims?

The first step is to find out if you could make a claim and how much you could be awarded, to do this fill in our form with as much detail as you are comfortable with. Once we receive your incident details, one of our trained Compensation Claim Advisors may call you at a convenient time to talk about your claim or if we need further details about what has happened to you.

If you want to go ahead and make a criminal injury claim we will make an application on your behalf to the Government Agency who deal with awarding compensation to victims of crimes of violence in England, Wales and Scotland. We will look after your claim and correspond with you and the Agency to process your application, we do all the work for you taking the hassle out of making a claim

For your completed application, information from the police, medical authorities and other organisations will be needed but we will take care of all of this for you. We will keep you informed of any developments in your application until a decision is reached on your eligibility for compensation under the Criminal Injury Compensation Scheme. The whole process of the application, taking into account all evidence and then deciding whether you are entitled to receive compensation and, if so, how much, can take a number of months and, sometimes, years depending on the complexity of your case.

The criminal injury compensation award payment is calculated by a tariff scheme in bands, with the minimum award being £1,000, rising up to £250,000. On top of the compensation award, an additional amount up to a maximum of £250,000 can be paid for other losses. In cases where recovery is a lengthy process, lost wages may be claimed and in some cases it may be possible to recover some or all medical expenses.

What is covered under the Criminal Injury Compensation Scheme?

Under the Criminal Injury Compensation Scheme you can claim for injuries as a result of a criminal act such as robbery, arson, poisoning, kidnap, domestic violence, offences of trespass on the railway, disease, sexual assault (adult / child). If you have been physically and / or mentally assaulted, or if you have witnessed one of these acts taking place which has had a psychological affect on you, you can be compensated under the Criminal Injury Compensation Scheme. One crucial point is that it is not necessary for there to be a conviction of the offender and it is not necessary for the perpetrator of the assault to be identified.

Compensation claims by relatives in fatal injury cases

The relatives of victims who have died as a result of a criminal act leading to criminal injuries are also eligible to make a claim for a 'fatal injury' award. If you depended financially on the person who died, you may also be able to claim a 'dependency award.' Children under the age of 18 can claim an award for what is called 'loss of parental services'. Anyone who has paid for the funeral of the victim can claim back reasonable funeral expenses.

Only certain relatives can apply for criminal injury compensation, these include:

• the husband or wife
• the unmarried but long term partner (including same sex partners)
• a parent (This is not limited to natural parents - it can include someone who can show that the person who died regarded them as their parent.)
• a child (This includes children who were accepted by the person who died as their child. Children under the age of 18 can claim an award for 'fatal injury', 'dependency' and for 'loss of parental services'. An adult whose parent is fatally injured can only claim a 'fatal injury award'.)
• a former husband or wife who was financially supported by the person who died.

Compensation Amounts for Criminal Injury

Below are the compensation brackets for the most common types of criminal injury.

These are only guidelines and each particular claim for compensation will be valued depending upon its own particular facts and merits. The severity of your injury and the degree to which it affects your life are two of a number of factors that will be taken into account.

• Moderate Illness lasting more than 6 weeks - up to £8,200
• Serious Illness lasting more than 6 weeks - up to £22,000
• Sensory Nerve Damage - up to £8,200
• Sexual Assault - up to £22,000
• Sexual Assault of Children - up to £33,000
• Scarring - up to £6,600
• Brain Injury - up to £250,000
• Ear Injury - up to £19,000
• Deafness - up to £44,000
• Eye Injury - up to £19,000
• Loss of Vision - up to £55,000
• Face Injury - up to £11,000
• Nose Injury - up to £16,500
• Damage to Teeth - up to £3,800
• Arm Injury - up to £11,000
• Loss of Function of Upper Limb or Hand - up to £110,000
• Hand Injury - up to £33,000
• Back Injury - up to £11,000
• Leg or Foot Injury - up to £16,500
• Loss of Function of Lower Limb or Foot - up to £110,000
• Burns - up to £33,000
• HIV/AIDS Infection - up to £22,000
• Major Paralysis - up to £250,000
• Mental Illness - up to £27,000

 

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• Criminal Injury

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