CICA Claim: Eligibility, Deadline, Amounts and How to Apply

A CICA claim is an application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority for a government payment if you were physically or mentally injured by a violent crime in England, Scotland, or Wales.¹ Awards are set by a fixed tariff and run from £1,000 for less severe injuries up to a combined cap of £500,000 in the most serious cases.² The scheme is funded by taxpayers and is designed for victims who cannot realistically recover money from their attacker.

Who Can Claim

You can apply if you were the direct victim of a crime of violence in England, Scotland, or Wales, and that crime caused a physical injury, a mental injury, or both.³ Qualifying incidents include physical assaults, sexual offences, and threats that caused you to fear immediate violence. You do not need a conviction against the offender.

Eligibility turns on your connection to the UK. The simplest route is being ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom on the date of the incident. If you weren’t, you may still qualify as a British citizen, a close relative of a British citizen in the same household, an EU or EEA national or their family member, a national of a state party to the Council of Europe Convention on the Compensation of Victims of Violent Crimes, a member of the armed forces, a recognised victim of trafficking, or an asylum seeker granted protection.⁴

The crime must have been reported to the police. There is no fixed cut-off such as 48 hours, but the scheme expects the report to have been made as soon as reasonably practicable. If you delayed, CICA will ask why and will consider your age, your capacity, your wellbeing at the time, and whether the effect of the incident meant you could not reasonably have reported earlier.⁵ The longer the gap, the harder it is to show the delay was reasonable.

The Two-Year Deadline

Your application must reach CICA within two years of the date the crime happened.³ CICA can extend the deadline only where exceptional circumstances prevented you from applying sooner and the evidence is still strong enough to decide the claim fairly. Extensions are genuinely rare.

If you were under 18 when the crime occurred, different rules apply. Where the incident was reported to the police before your 18th birthday, you have until your 20th birthday to apply. Where it was not reported until on or after your 18th birthday, you have two years from the date of that first police report.⁵ This matters in historic child abuse cases, where victims often come forward years later.

How Much You Can Get

CICA does not negotiate. Every qualifying injury has a fixed value in the Tariff of Injuries, published as an annex to the scheme. Awards for individual injuries run from £1,000 at the lower end up to £250,000 for the most catastrophic harm. A disabling mental injury lasting between six and 28 weeks sits at £1,000; severe brain damage requiring full-time nursing care sits at £250,000.²

Multiple injuries are not simply added up. You receive 100% of the tariff value for the most serious injury, 30% for the second, and 15% for the third. Nothing is payable for a fourth injury or beyond.⁶ The gap between what people expect and what they receive is often widest here.

If your injuries left you unable to work for more than 28 weeks, you may qualify for a loss of earnings payment on top of the tariff award. It is calculated at the rate of statutory sick pay, not your actual salary, which surprises many claimants. The payment runs from the end of the 28-week period until you can work again, you reach state pension age, or the expected end of your life if the injury has shortened it.⁵

Special expenses cover costs directly caused by the crime, such as physical aids, home adaptations, or care needs. They are only available where injuries left you incapacitated for more than 28 weeks, and every expense must be verified before it is added.⁵ All components combined cannot exceed £500,000.

Where a violent crime results in death, qualifying relatives can claim under the scheme. CICA pays a flat-rate funeral payment of £2,500 once eligibility is established, with a further payment of up to £2,500 if basic funeral costs exceed that amount, capped at £5,000 in total. Dependent children of the deceased may receive a bereavement payment of £2,000 for each full year of dependency, reduced proportionally for part years. Loss of earnings and other dependency payments may also be available to a surviving spouse, partner, or parent.⁵

How Your Own Record Can Reduce the Award

CICA looks at your criminal history when deciding your claim. If you have an unspent conviction, a claims officer must reduce or withhold your award entirely.³ Even spent convictions can count against you if your broader history of criminal behaviour makes a full award inappropriate.

A points-based system keeps reductions consistent, with more recent convictions and more serious sentences attracting more points and larger reductions. It is a guide rather than a rigid formula, and a claims officer can go higher or lower depending on the facts.⁵ Being a genuine victim does not guarantee an award if your own record is problematic.

How to Apply

Applications are submitted through the online portal on GOV.UK. Before you start, gather the police crime reference number, the name and location of the police station that handled the investigation, the name and address of your GP or treating hospital with dates of consultations and treatment, dates of any time off work and evidence of your earnings if you are claiming loss of income, and the reference number of any earlier CICA application. Without the crime reference number your claim cannot progress.

Be precise when describing your injuries. CICA cross-references what you say with medical records later in the process, and vague or inconsistent descriptions slow things down and can raise doubts about the claim. Having everything ready before you open the form also prevents the portal session from timing out.

How Long It Takes

After you submit, you get an on-screen confirmation of receipt. A claims officer is assigned to your case, contacts the police for a full report of the incident and any criminal proceedings, and requests medical evidence to verify your injuries. Most of the waiting happens here, because CICA depends on third parties responding in their own time.

You should usually receive a decision within 12 months, though it can take longer in complex cases.⁷ Cases involving ongoing medical treatment or unresolved criminal proceedings tend to sit at the longer end. Where your entitlement is clear but the final prognosis is not, CICA may make an interim payment, which is later deducted from your final award.⁵

If You Disagree With the Decision

Your first step is to request an internal review. You normally have 56 days from the date on the decision letter to submit the request in writing. A different claims officer looks at your case again from scratch, and you can submit new evidence such as updated medical reports or additional police information. You can ask for a further 56 days to gather evidence, but extensions are granted only in exceptional circumstances.

If the review decision still goes against you, you can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Criminal Injuries Compensation), which is independent of CICA. You download and complete the tribunal’s appeal form and submit it with the review decision letter, medical records, and any supporting documents, online or by post.⁸ The tribunal can change the result entirely. You cannot skip the internal review and go straight to the tribunal.

1
GOV.UK. Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
2
GOV.UK. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012
3
GOV.UK. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012
4
GOV.UK. Criminal Injuries Compensation – Residency and Nationality
5
GOV.UK. Criminal Injuries Compensation – A Guide
6
GOV.UK. Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme – Injury Payments
7
GOV.UK. Claim Compensation if You Were the Victim of a Violent Crime – What Happens Next
8
GOV.UK. Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal – Appeal to the Tribunal