Criminal Injuries

You are entitled to claim in case, you are an innocent victim of an assault or a violent crime. We can help you file your claim to The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) being incorporated by the Government with the aim to deal with the victims of an assault or a violent crime occurred in the UK. There are certain set criterion, if a claim comes up to its standards or falls within the definition of CICA in this respect, then you can entitled to claim for compensation which are elaborated in brief below.

• The injury must have occurred as a result of an assault or violence and you must be an innocent victim.
• Injury must be in the form of physical or mental injury as a result of criminal act, an assault or violence crime.
• As a result of injury, you could not recover at least six weeks and have visited a doctor at least twice.
• Reported the incident personally to the police as soon as you were able to do so; and
• Time limit for making the claim is two years within the date of the incident, which caused the injury. But in some circumstances there are some exceptions to it, which can be discussed with CICA.
• The minimum value of the criminal injury must exceed £1000. If the value of minor injury does not exceed the aforesaid limit, CICA does not consider the criminal injury claim application.
• Victim may also be able to get additional compensation if, as a result of a violent crime, victim has lost earnings or the ability to earn for longer than 28 weeks. In these circumstances, victim may qualify for compensation for the earnings he/she has lost and for any special expenses – for example, medical, dental or eye treatment. (CICA cannot pay lost earnings for the first 28 weeks of loss. CICA can pay special expenses from the date of the injury, but only if victim has lost earnings or the ability to earn for more than 28 weeks).
• Claimant's behaviour before, during or after the incident in which he/she was injured
• Claimant’s criminal record relating to convictions etc
• Claimant’s failure to cooperate with the Police and CICA.
• There are different levels of injuries and compensation is made according to its seriousness and level ranging from level 1 to 25 and monetary value of levels starts from £1,000 to £250,000.

CICA has set the standard of proof is the civil standard - the balance of probabilities narrating that no requirement for corroboration and no criminal prosecution must be obtained before a claim for the criminal injury can be made. This also applies to legally incapax or below the age limit for criminal responsibility. For guidance, CICA website can be consulted for more details. https://www.cica.gov.uk