Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
What can I apply for?
If you have been injured because of a violent crime, there are four possible types of compensation you might be able to claim:
Compensation for injuries (Tariff award)
This type of compensation simply recognises that you have suffered the injury. We call this the 'standard amount of compensation' or 'tariff award'.
As well as the tariff award, we can also compensate for loss of earnings and special expenses. However, you can only qualify for them if you also qualify for the tariff award.
Compensation because a loved one has died as a result of a violent crime
If your parent, child, husband, wife or partner (including same sex partners) has died as the result of a violent crime, we may be able to pay this type of compensation (currently £11,000 if there is one person claiming, or £5,500 each if there is more than one person claiming). If you depended financially on the person who died, you may also be able to claim compensation for this. We can also refund funeral expenses to the person who has paid for the funeral but, unfortunately, we cannot pay funeral expenses before the claim has been assessed.
Compensation for loss of earnings
If you have lost earnings or the ability to earn for longer than 28 weeks as a direct result of the injury, you may claim for this. If you qualify for an award for loss of earnings, we will pay compensation from the 29th week that you cannot work. The Scheme gives more details about this. If you want to apply for loss of earnings as well as for a tariff award, you need to let us know and we will send you an application form and guide for this.
Compensation for special expenses
The types of expenses you could claim for, and the rules for working this out, are in the Scheme. They cover things like:
- the cost of medical treatment which cannot reasonably be provided by the National Health Service
- the cost of care provided by a residential establishment or at home
- the cost of adaptations that need to be made to your home as a result of your injury
As with compensation for loss of earnings, we can pay for special expenses only if you were not able to work (or, if unemployed, would not have been able to work) for more than 28 weeks after the injury. But, unlike compensation for loss of earnings, if you qualify for compensation for special expenses, we will pay this from the date of the injury, rather than starting at week 29.
If you want to apply for compensation for special expenses as well as for a tariff award, you need to let us know and we will send you an application form and guide for this.
Compensation for sexual offence
If you have been the victim of a sexual offence, we can compensate for this, too.
We understand that you may not wish to talk about what has happened to you but if you do need some support, you can contact our helpline on 0300 003 3601.
Victim Support is the national charity that helps people affected by crime and has local branches throughout England, Scotland and Wales. They can give you free and confidential support to help you deal with what you have been through.
As with any other application we will need to establish if you qualify for an award (we call this eligibility). Again, our trained helpline staff will be able to help you with this.
The amount of compensation you may qualify for will vary from case to case. If you look at page 34 of The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2008 you may get an idea of the amounts we can award for sexual assault, and also of the terminology we use.
Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2008
