Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS)

Cuts to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) have reduced or withdrawn compensation payments to many people injured in violent crimes, including those injured as a result of work-related attacks. Before the changes were introduced in 2012, the scheme awarded compensation to between 30,000 and 40,000 people a year who were seriously injured in a violent crime but could not obtain recompense from any other source, such as their assailant.

The changes removed around 17,000 victims of violent crime from the scheme each year, such as those who suffer so-called minor injuries. This includes those with injuries like a smashed hand or an injury to the knee serious enough to require surgery. Thousands of workers who are injured because of criminal acts at work, such as shop workers or security guards who are assaulted, are no longer compensated through the scheme.

Shop workers’ union Usdaw told LRD: “We continue to support members with Criminal Injury Compensation claims to the [Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority] CICA where possible – but numbers are substantially down since the changes to the scheme in 2012. In 2016 we only registered 122 claims, of which only 18 received compensation totalling £82,000. By contrast in 2011, the year before the scheme was changed, we processed 260 claims and secured £753,000 for 117 members.”

The EIS teachers’ union advises its members that, unless there is a police report and a complaint to the police, the CICA cannot award compensation.