Compensation process adds to criminal victims' trauma, review finds

Wholesale reform of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme is needed so that victims who apply are not frustrated or alienated by the process, according to a review published today.

Baroness Newlove, Victims’ Commissioner for England & Wales, reports that many victims claiming criminal injuries compensation find the process so stressful that it can retrigger their original trauma, due to being constantly required to repeat their story, and to delays, uncertainty and poor communication.

Many victims – nearly 40% – need support in pursuing their claim to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), but those who use lawyers can lose up to a quarter of their award in legal fees.

The Baroness's aim was to review the accessibility of the scheme from a victim perspective. She found low awareness of the scheme and how it operates, even amongst criminal justice practitioners. Only 36% of victims taking part in the review survey said they were informed of their entitlement to claim compensation by police. Some were being encouraged to delay claiming until after trial, only to find that they were timed outside the two-year period for submitting their claim.

While the Commissioner acknowledges and welcomes that over the past 18 months the CICA has invested a significant amount of work improving its processes, with most cases now taking less than 12 months to process, she believes more fundamental changes are needed.

Her report calls on the CICA, together with the Ministry of Justice, victim service providers, Police and Crime Commissioners, police and prosecutors to work together to deliver a package of wide-ranging reforms to the processes for delivering compensation, in order to "de-traumatise and simplify" the compensation process.

Changes should include having a single point of contact or named caseworker to handle an individual's claim and answer questions, accelerating IT improvements to enable victims to track claims online, improved sharing of information, particularly between the police and CICA, victims being offered timelines for their claim, and acknowledgment by the CICA of documents requested from claimants.

The report also calls for professional support to be targeted on vulnerable victims who cannot reasonably be expected to submit a claim without help; and for a review of handling of cases where compensation is held in trust and where compensation awards to bereaved families are reduced due to the "conduct" of the deceased victim. It further challenges the exclusion of victims with unspent convictions, in light of better understanding how certain crimes, such as modern-day slavery, or sexual/criminal exploitation of children, can push some victims into criminality.

Another concern is that victims may feel pressurised into submitting a claim before trial. Baroness Newlove commented: "I was particularly concerned to hear that some victims of sexual crimes were being cross-examined by defence barristers on whether they had made an application for compensation and questioned whether greed had motivated their complaints."

She added: "I believe criminal injuries compensation is important in helping vulnerable victims cope and recover from the most brutal of crimes. Yet my review shows that the process of making their claim, which should strengthen victims, can have the opposite effect. The process of claiming is often having a detrimental impact on their wellbeing. I worry that we are treating it as a tick box exercise, without recognising the emotional needs of those making claims."

She concluded: "We must not lose sight that victims are likely to be suffering from trauma. It is important that this service, which is there to support them, recognises this and treats them with the empathy and care they deserve."

Click here to view the report.