Criminal Injuries Compensation UK: How to Claim

At a glance

• Scheme in force: the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (as amended), administered by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). Northern Ireland runs a separate scheme.
• Coverage: victims of violent crime in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). A separate Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme covers British nationals injured in a terrorist attack abroad.
• Time limit (adults): two years from the date of the incident. Extension requires exceptional circumstances.
• Time limit (children): where the offence was reported to the police while the victim was under 18, the deadline is three years from the date of the police report, or the victim's 18th birthday — whichever gives more time.
• Award range: £1,000 (Band 1 tariff minimum) to £250,000 for a single injury; overall cap £500,000 across all elements of an award. Check GOV.UK for current figures.
• No conviction needed: CICA assesses on the balance of probabilities. An acquittal or undetected offender does not bar a claim.
• Conduct and convictions: applicants with unspent convictions may face reduced awards or refusal; 10 or more points under the scheme's points system = nil award. Your own contribution to the incident can also reduce or bar a claim.
• Legal representation: not required. CICA does not pay legal costs from an award.
• Review deadline: 56 days from the CICA decision letter. Tribunal appeal: 90 days from the review decision.

What the scheme is and who it covers

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme is a statutory scheme funded by the UK government and administered by CICA. It provides fixed tariff-based compensation to people who have been directly injured — physically or mentally — as the result of a crime of violence in Great Britain.

What counts as a crime of violence is defined in Annex B of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012. It includes offences involving physical contact with a victim or a threat of immediate violence. It also covers arson and fire-raising where a victim is in the vicinity, poisoning, and a small number of other specified acts. The injury must be a direct consequence of the crime rather than, for example, a secondary psychological reaction to witnessing an assault on someone else (though witnesses in some circumstances may qualify — check the scheme guidance on GOV.UK).

Road traffic incidents are excluded from the scheme in most cases. The exception is where a vehicle was deliberately used as a weapon against the victim rather than being negligently driven.

Northern Ireland has its own separate scheme administered by Compensation Services. The rules differ and are not covered here — see nidirect.gov.uk for guidance.

Scotland is covered by CICA and the same 2012 scheme applies, but one distinction is worth noting: the time it takes for a conviction to become spent differs between Scotland and England and Wales. CICA applies the relevant rehabilitation period based on where the incident took place — the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 as amended by LASPO 2012 for England and Wales; the same Act as amended by the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2019 for Scotland.

This guide covers the scheme as it applies in England and Wales unless otherwise stated.

Eligibility: the four tests every applicant must pass

1. Direct victim of a crime of violence

You must have sustained a physical or mental injury as a direct victim of a crime of violence. The crime must fall within the scheme's definition in Annex B, and your injury must be described in the tariff of injuries at Annex E (if the injury falls below the tariff threshold, no payment is made even if the crime is proven).

2. Police report

The crime must have been reported to the police. CICA will contact the police as part of its investigation and will not make an award where there is no record of a report. The report should be made as soon as reasonably possible — unexplained delays can weaken an application.

There are limited exceptions: in institutional settings such as prisons or mental hospitals, a prompt report to the appropriate authority in charge may substitute for a police report. For child victims, failure by a parent or carer to report is not automatically fatal to a child's claim, particularly where it would have been unreasonable to expect the child to take matters further.

3. Cooperation with authorities

You must have cooperated with the police and, where applicable, with any prosecution. CICA can refuse or reduce an award if you failed to assist investigators or the courts without good reason.

4. Conduct: your behaviour before, during and after the incident

CICA will look at whether your own behaviour — including any excessive consumption of alcohol or drug use — contributed to the incident. Where it did, CICA can reduce or refuse an award. Complete refusal is possible where your conduct is considered to have been the main cause of the incident.

Unspent convictions: the rule that catches many applicants

If you have unspent criminal convictions at the date of your application (or are convicted of a criminal offence before a final decision is made), CICA will apply a points-based assessment.

Points are allocated according to the type and severity of sentence and how long ago it was imposed. The higher the points total, the greater the reduction — or the application fails entirely:

• A points total of 10 or more results in a nil award (automatic refusal).
• Lower totals lead to proportionate reductions.

Important exceptions: a conviction for which the only penalty was a road traffic endorsement, penalty points, or a fine under Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 does not attract points under this system. Only unspent convictions count — spent convictions (under the applicable rehabilitation periods) are disregarded.

CICA decision-makers do retain some discretion to depart from the mechanical outcome in exceptional cases, but this cannot be assumed. If you have a criminal record, calculating your likely points total before investing time in a claim is worthwhile. Check the current scheme guidance on GOV.UK or seek advice.

How the tariff works: what the scheme pays

The tariff of injuries (Annex E)

Compensation under the 2012 scheme is not assessed like a civil damages claim — there is no assessment of actual loss or pain and suffering based on individual circumstances. Instead, each qualifying injury is matched to a fixed tariff band. The tariff contains 35 bands. As at the 2012 scheme (check GOV.UK for any updates since):

• Band 1 (minimum): £1,000
• Band 25 (maximum single injury): £250,000
• Overall cap across all elements: £500,000

Where the value of an injury falls below Band 1 (£1,000), no payment is made even if eligibility is otherwise established.

Multiple injuries

Where you have sustained more than one qualifying injury, CICA uses a structured calculation:

• Most serious injury: 100% of its tariff value
• Second most serious injury: 30% of its tariff value
• Third most serious injury: 15% of its tariff value
• Additional injuries beyond three: not taken into account

This means a claimant with multiple injuries will not receive the full tariff value of each one — the scheme is designed to reflect aggregate harm, not to stack awards. The overall maximum of £500,000 applies across all elements.

Loss of earnings and special expenses

In addition to an injury tariff payment, CICA can make a payment for loss of earnings or special expenses — but the eligibility bar is strict:

• The claimant must have been incapacitated for more than 28 weeks as a direct result of the criminal injury for which an injury payment has been made.
• Special expenses can only cover items listed in paragraph 52 of the scheme: costs necessarily incurred as a direct result of the injury, for which provision is not available free of charge from another source, and where the cost is reasonable.

Not every CICA applicant will be eligible for a loss of earnings or special expenses payment. The majority of awards are tariff-only.

The time limit in detail

Adults: two years from the incident

For adult applicants (18 or over at the date of the incident), the standard deadline is two years from the date of the incident. CICA applies this firmly. Late applications are only accepted where:

1. Exceptional circumstances prevented an earlier application; and
2. The evidence provided means the claim can still be determined without extensive further investigation.

Both conditions must be met. "I did not know about the scheme" alone is unlikely to be enough. CICA's own review of the time limit (2022–2023 consultations, government response published) concluded that two years is sufficient for most victims and that the exceptional-circumstances discretion is working well. A change to the time limit is not currently planned.

Children and young people: different rules apply

Where the incident occurred when the victim was under 18 and the offence was reported to the police while the victim was still a child, the time limit runs for three years from the date of the police report — or until the victim's 18th birthday, whichever gives more time. Always verify the current position on GOV.UK, as the precise rules for children are applied case by case and depend on the specific facts.

If a child's case was not reported at the time, a later report as an adult brings the standard two-year adult deadline into play from the date of the police report.

What happened to the 'same roof rule'?

Until 13 June 2019, the scheme contained what became known as the 'same roof rule': victims of violent crime could not receive compensation if they had been living in the same household as the perpetrator at the time of incidents that occurred before October 1979. This disproportionately affected survivors of historic childhood abuse within the family.

The rule was abolished on 13 June 2019, following a Court of Appeal ruling (JT v First-tier Tribunal [2018] EWCA Civ 1735, which the government chose not to appeal) and sustained campaigning by victim groups. Applicants who were previously barred by this rule — including those who had already had a claim refused on this basis — were given two years from 13 June 2019 (until 13 June 2021) to reapply. If you were affected, you should check your position with an adviser.

The same roof restriction for incidents from October 1979 onwards was already removed by the 1979 scheme. The 2019 change dealt with the residual historical cases pre-dating that change.

Applying: the step-by-step process

Before you apply

1. Make sure the crime was reported to the police and obtain the crime reference number — you will need it throughout the application.
2. Get medical attention and ensure injuries are documented. GP and hospital records, mental health assessments, and any treatment notes form the backbone of your evidence. The sooner injuries are recorded with the correct cause noted, the stronger your position.
3. Check the time limit that applies to you. Use the GOV.UK guidance to establish your deadline and whether a late application has any realistic prospects.
4. Consider your criminal record position. If you have unspent convictions, work out your likely points score before investing time in the application.

Completing the application

You can apply online via GOV.UK at GOV.UK — claim compensation if you were the victim of a violent crime. You will need a GOV.UK One Login account to save and return to the application. A postal route is also available for those who cannot apply online.

The form asks about: the incident itself; the police report and crime reference number; your injuries, treatment received, and medical history; the impact on your work and daily life; and any unspent criminal convictions. Give as much detail as possible and attach supporting documentation where you can.

CICA will send an acknowledgement within approximately one week of receiving your application. You should usually receive a decision within 12 months, though complex cases can take longer.

After the decision

CICA will write to you with its decision. You then have three options:

• Accept the award as offered.
• Request a review (within 56 days of the decision letter). A different CICA caseworker will reconsider the case from scratch and may increase, reduce or leave the award unchanged. CICA can extend the 56-day deadline by a further 56 days once, where exceptional circumstances apply.
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Criminal Injuries Compensation) if you remain dissatisfied after a review. You have 90 days from the review decision to appeal. The tribunal is independent of CICA and can make a decision more or less favourable than the review outcome.

Do you need a solicitor or claims management company?

The scheme is designed to be accessible without legal representation. CICA does not pay legal costs out of an award, so any fees to a solicitor or claims management company come directly from your compensation.

For straightforward tariff claims — a single clearly defined injury, no loss of earnings element, no criminal record issues, reported promptly — many applicants handle the process themselves using the GOV.UK step-by-step guidance.

Professional advice is more likely to be worthwhile where the claim involves historic abuse, multiple injuries, a loss of earnings element, unspent convictions, or a late application requiring an exceptional-circumstances argument. In these cases, an experienced legal adviser can assess whether the claim is likely to succeed and what the realistic award range might be before you invest significant time and effort.

If you do instruct a representative, make sure any fee arrangement is clear upfront — you should know exactly what percentage of any award will be deducted before you agree.

CICA and benefits: a trap to be aware of

A CICA award is a lump sum. Lump sums can count as capital for the purposes of means-tested benefits such as Universal Credit — and if the total of your capital exceeds the applicable threshold, your benefit entitlement can be reduced or stopped entirely.

Where the award is substantial and the recipient relies on means-tested benefits, a personal injury trust can sometimes be used to ring-fence the compensation so that it is not counted as assessable capital. This is a technical area — the rules are strict and the trust must be properly set up. If benefits are a concern, take specialist advice before accepting the award, not after.

This guide provides general information about how the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme works in England and Wales. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your specific circumstances. The scheme rules described are those of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 as amended; always check GOV.UK and the published scheme document for the most current position.

Last reviewed: June 2026 by a non-practising solicitor · Next review due: June 2027 or on scheme amendment.