Victims are being ‘re-traumatised’ by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA)

Helen Newlove, appointed as the government’s Victims’ Commissioner in 2012, was thrust into prominence due to the events of one fateful evening in August 2007.

Her husband, Mr. Gary Newlove, confronted a group of youths who were vandalising property outside his home and was subsequently kicked to death “like a football” in front of his three daughters.

In the wake of this shocking incident, Mrs. Newlove launched the Newlove Warrington campaign with the aim of “making the town a safer and better place to live and to improve facilities and opportunities for the children through education and life skills for the better of communities”.

Mrs. Newlove was given a peerage in 2010 and was given the full title of Baroness Newlove of Warrington in the county of Cheshire. The rewards for her tireless campaigning would not stop there however as in 2012, she was announced as the new Victims’ Commissioner.

Since then, she has continued to fight for victims’ rights, notably tackling the issue of compensation and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).

In her recent review of the CICA, Baroness Newlove found that the authority was needlessly forcing victims to continuously repeat the traumatic details of the event they were claiming for. In my experience, I know this to be correct.

In one example, Mr. X was asked to complete the same form requesting further details of his injuries numerous times causing unnecessary stress, not only due to him having to divulge the same personal information over and over but also from the frustration of feeling the authority was completely ignoring the materials he was submitting.

Under the current system, victims are required to disclose precise details about the crime they suffered – addresses, the dates and even the time are all required. The CICA request this despite the fact that, in every case, they apply to the police force handling the incident and obtain a full copy of the victim statement and all reports associated with the incident.

The authority has also been known to withhold compensation on arbitrary grounds, without realising the impact this could have on the victims.

The impact

Daniel Murphy and Holly Brannigan are a couple who are currently in the aforementioned situation. Mr. Murphy had his jaw broken in three places after an attack in 2014 and is still yet to reach an agreement over any compensation.

Ms. Brannigan, Mr. Murphy’s fiancée, said that the CICA have questioned whether Mr. Murphy had undergone surgery, despite X-rays showing he had three metal plates inserted into his jaw – “Every time that they contact me wanting more information, which they already have, I have to relive .”

The CICA came under criticism in the last few years for refusing compensation to victims of child sex abuse on the basis that they “consented” to the abuse and refusing to pay out a victim of Daryll Rowe, the first person in England to be convicted of intentionally spreading HIV, because of a previous conviction of threatening or abusive behaviour for heckling a Conservative Politician.

On the back of intense pressure regarding this, the authority had no choice but to change their guidelines. For further information on this, please see this article in which I covered both cases.

The findings

Baroness Newlove also highlighted previous convictions in her report, calling for the Ministry of Justice to review the rule that withholds compensation from victims who have previous unspent criminal convictions. There is still a lot of confusion surrounding convictions and CICA claims. If you are unsure whether you are able to claim for an injury, we have a quick guide on how convictions affect your potential to claim.

It was found that fewer than two-in-five people remembered being told about their entitlement to claim by the police or victim services, a number that is shockingly low. As Baroness Newlove states, “this raises a question as to whether there are potentially thousands of victims who fail to claim compensation.”

Having a legal representative helping you through the process can, not only allow you the peace of mind that someone knowledgeable in the field is constantly keeping on top of your claim but also, remove the unnecessary stress caused by constantly having to relay your personal information and traumatic experience to different individuals in the CICA customer service team.

Removing this impersonality and adding the reassurance that a representative can bring can prove indispensable in a victim’s recovery.

In the report, it makes mention that 40% of victims feel the need to turn to a third party for help with their application due to the complexity and that lawyers are claiming substantial legal fees in return for this assistance.

While I am unable to speak for other firms, at Oakwood Solicitors we pride ourselves in our public relation skills. Help is always at hand whenever necessary, no matter how insignificant a query may initially seem.

Baroness Newlove’s report raises some important issues and addresses some already existing matters. With the CICA’s own internal review scheduled to be released later in the year, hopefully they expatiate on the problems that have been ever-present in their scheme for several years and immediately look to rectify them.

WHAT TO DO NEXT

Get in touch today for a free initial consultation with a member of our Criminal Injury team. Choose one of the methods on the right-hand side of this page, or call us on 0113 200 9720 to find out how we can help you.

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