Formerly known as the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel (CICAP), we consider appeals against decisions made by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). We only deal with appeals on claims for compensation for criminal injuries made on or after 1 April 1996 under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.

Claims for criminal injuries compensation are now determined by the First-tier Tribunal of the Tribunals Service, a new statutory body established by the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement (TCE) Act 2007. You can find further information about the TCE Act, and how its implementation will create a new unified Tribunals system, on the Tribunals Service website.

The Tribunal is overseen by the Principal Judge (Criminal Injuries Compensation) who is based in London along with his support team.

• Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority

First–tier Tribunal (Criminal Injuries Compensation)

Severe Weather Conditions - Tribunal Hearings
We expect hearings in all our tribunals to go ahead, as planned. If the weather in your area is bad, you should contact the office that wrote to you to confirm that your hearing is going ahead.

We deal with appeals against review decisions of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), on claims for compensation made on or after 1 April 1996, under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.

We have approximately 70 part-time Tribunal Judges and Members who are qualified to decide criminal injury compensation appeals. They are appointed by the Lord Chancellor and include people with legal and medical qualifications, and lay people from diverse backgrounds.

The Tribunal is supported by administrative staff based in Glasgow and London. Appeals are processed in Glasgow. The judicial lead for Criminal Injury Compensation cases (the Principal Judge), and his support team, is based in London.

Our aim is to enable victims of violent crime to have their appeals decided sensitively fairly and independently in accordance with the Scheme.

Tribunal Research

We support research into the experience of tribunal users and consider the results arising from the research to improve customer service.

Research in which we have recently been involved includes:

Tribunals for Diverse Users:

We were one of the tribunals which participated in this research project into ethnic diversity and the tribunal system commissioned by the Department for Constitutional Affairs. CICAP was one of the tribunals which participated in this research conducted by Professor Hazel Genn, Ben Lever and Amar Dhudwar of University College London. The final research report is available from the Ministry of Justice's website.

Representation and Self-representation in Tribunals:

We have facilitated research by the University of Edinburgh, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) into the experiences of people who attend hearings at the Tribunal. During the research period users were asked to volunteer information on their experience of preparing for and attending hearings. This research has not yet been published.