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Home » News & Knowledge » The Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (CICA) Appeal Process – How Does it Work?

Founded in 1996, the CICA was designed to compensate blameless victims of violent crimes, including physical and sexual assaults. The Scheme has been revised numerous times and currently and compensates for over 300 different types of injury.

After going through the claims process with the CICA and once an initial decision is received from them, you then have a decision of your own to make, dependant on the outcome you wish to achieve. If you have received an offer, you can either choose to accept the compensation that the CICA have offered, or you can choose to appeal against it.

Litigation Professional Negligence

Alternatively, you may receive a rejection. If this is the case, it is extremely important that you understand the reasons that the CICA have made their rejection before deciding whether you would like to challenge the CICA’s rejection.

It is strongly advisable to seek legal help if you are unsure on the best approach following the decision you have received; however, we have put together a short guide below to explain the process of receiving a decision from the CICA and the next appropriate steps.

I have received a decision, is it the correct one?

The CICA operate according to their Scheme and the decisions they make should reflect the provisions found within this.

My claim was rejected

This would depend on the circumstances of your case and the reasons for the rejection. For example, if the CICA have rejected the claim on the basis that they believe that your conduct contributed to an incident, but this is incorrect, challenging the CICA’s decision would be recommended.

If the CICA reject a claim based on conduct, more often than not, they will have done so after assessing the incident report that has been supplied to them direct by the police. When the CICA provide this rejection to an applicant, they are unlikely to do so with the full evidence. It is therefore advisable, to submit a Subject Access Request to the CICA for this information before any further steps are taken (depending on how long this takes, it may be advisable to seek an extension for the review, for more information on this please see ‘How does the application for a review work?’ below).

If the CICA rejected the claim as you had received a serious criminal conviction that was unspent, it is likely that any attempt to challenge this decision would fail and would therefore not be advisable. For more on eligibility to claim, please see our extensive guide here.

Money

I received an offer on my claim

The CICA calculate their awards for compensation using a tariff that contains provisions for both physical and psychological injuries and pays out for up to three different injuries, if each is so serious that they would qualify for individual awards, and the CICA calculate them as follows:

100% of the injury that achieve the highest compensation
30% of an injury that is worth either equal to the most serious injury or the second-highest compensation
15% of an injury that is worth either equal to the second most serious injury or the third-highest compensation

When attempting to calculate whether the offer you have received from the CICA is an acceptable one, you must read the injuries that you have received awards for and read the reasons that the CICA have given for this in your decision letter.

If you feel the CICA has missed out one of your more serious injuries, an Application for a Review/Appeal would be recommended.

It is imperative to note that that, once an application for a review is submitted to the CICA, while they have the ability to come back with a better offer, they also are able to give the same offer and, in some circumstances, if the information presented justified it, make a lower offer.

How does the application for a review work?

Upon receiving an initial decision from the CICA, you are presented with the option to apply for a ‘review’. To do so, you must complete the ‘application for a review’ form that is attached to the decision, giving the reasons that you wish the CICA to perform a review of their decision. There are some extremely important points to bear in mind when doing so:

The deadlines

An application for a review must be submitted, with any supporting evidence, so that it is received by the CICA within 56 days after the date of the decision to which the application for a review relates.

This 56-day period may be extended by a further period of 56 days where an application for an extension is made in writing and there are exceptional circumstances that prevented an applicant submitting the application for a review within the 56-day time limit.

The CICA will then contact you within three months of receiving their review request to let you know how your review is progressing.

The content

The grounds on which an application for a review is sought must be sufficient for the CICA to overturn their original decision. Bluntly put, unless there is evidence to back it up, an emotional appeal to the CICA will simply not work. The CICA stick rigorously to their Scheme and therefore an application for a review must explain why their decision is incorrect, according to their Scheme.

You should apply for a review if you think the CICA has not taken account of all the relevant information, you think the CICA have looked at the wrong information, you have further information that you would like the CICA to consider or you think the CICA’s decision is wrong for any other reason.

A review will be conducted by a CICA claims officer other than the one who initially assessed the claim. The latter claims officer will not be bound by any previous decision made in the claim.

Once the CICA assesses the application for a review, they may write back with a different decision, the same decision or they may request more information in order to further assess the claim.

Upon receipt of this second decision, you may still be dissatisfied. If this is the case, you then have the option of appealing to the First-tier Tribunal.

CICA Appeal Process

How does an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal work?

There are three main types of appeal against a review decision, they are as follows:

Eligibility

The first type of appeal involves rejections of a review on the basis that the claim wasn’t eligible under a specific section of the CICA’s Scheme. These include:

Being out of the 2-year limitation period to bring a claim
When you were a child on the date of the incident and the incident was reported to the police before your 18^th birthday, a claim was not brought within 2 years of reaching 18
Where you were a child on the date of the incident and the incident was reported to the police after your 18^th birthday, a claim was not brought to the CICA within 2 years of reporting it to the police
A review was not requested within 56 days of the initial decision
You asked for the CICA to re-open your case as your medical condition has since changed (following the closure of the case), but they decided not to do so.

No award

The second type of appeal is where the CICA has decided not to award an applicant any compensation, usually due to insufficient injuries, conduct during the incident or previous convictions.

Award too low

The third type of appeal is where the CICA has made an award of compensation to an applicant. However, it is their belief that the offer is too low.

Regardless of the type of appeal, you will apply using a Notice of Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal that the CICA provides with their review decision.

The deadlines

A Notice of Appeal must be submitted, with any supporting evidence, so that it is received by the Tribunal within 90 days of the date of the review decision letter.

This 90-day period may be extended by way of a request for an extension. The Tribunal will consider an extension to their 90-day limit, whether the application is made within or outside of the period of 90 days, if it is based on good reasons and it would be fair to do so. One such example is if an application requires further medical reports/records which must be assessed before a decision to make an appeal is made.

I’ve submitted my Notice of Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal – what happens next?

Once your appeal has been admitted by the Tribunal, they will send a copy of the Notice of Appeal to the CICA, along with any information submitted alongside it. The Notice of Appeal and any extra information submitted will form the ‘response’ bundle – this is what the Tribunal will assess in order to formulate their decision.

The Tribunal will then write to an applicant asking for any further comments they would like to make before they come to their decision – a one-month deadline will be set for this.

Courtroom

Will I have to attend Court?

Following their request for further comments, the Tribunal will decide whether to hold an oral hearing. In some cases, the Tribunal may decide they do not require any further information and will let an applicant know their decision in writing.

If the Tribunal decides that your case should have a hearing, they will inform an applicant via writing. Once they hold all the necessary documentation, they will then provide a hearing time and hearing day as soon as an appropriate venue becomes available. An applicant will have a minimum 14-day notice of this and will be asked to confirm via writing that they are able to attend.

The oral hearing will usually involve a representative from the CICA to explain their reasons for coming to the decision they came to and at least 2 representatives from the Tribunal. They will ask all questions they deem necessary and will allow an applicant an opportunity to present their case.

This will then allow them to establish whether an applicant should be successful in their appeal or not. While it may initially appear a daunting task to attend an oral hearing, in our experience at Oakwood Solicitors, the Tribunal tends to be far more sympathetic to an applicant’s situation.

If you are appealing for any of the following reasons, and you are successful in your appeal, the Tribunal will send the case back to the CICA for them to continue their process:

The CICA refused a case because of a time limit
An applicant was unhappy with the amount of compensation the CICA offered (in this scenario, the Tribunal will decide how much compensation an applicant is entitled to)
No award of compensation was made for the incident
An applicant asked the CICA to re-open their case because of a change in medical condition

How long will my appeal take?

This depends on whether the Tribunal deem it necessary to hold a hearing or not. If they do not, an appeal can usually be expected to take around 3 to 6 months starting from the date upon which the Tribunal receives the Notice of Appeal. Appeals that do require a hearing will usually be ready to go to their oral hearings within 3 to 6 months of receipt of the Notice of Appeal.

If an appeal does go to an oral hearing, the Tribunal will usually give their decision to an applicant at the hearing.

Why would I need legal help?

Simply put, having a legal representative has been shown to improve the likelihood of a CICA case succeeding. Statistics published by the government illustrate that more people decide to undergo this type of claim on their own, than with a legal representative.

Unfortunately for the applicants undergoing CICA claims without representation, statistics have shown that they are more likely to end up with their claims rejected in comparison to those who seek legal help. Between 2017 and 2018, 39,356 people had a CICA claim finalised of which 60% decided not to seek legal help and a whopping 62% of those applicants had their claims rejected.

There are numerous things that could cause this significant failing, such as a lack of understanding of the CICA’s process, the criteria that are required to be met and a failure to meet deadlines that have been set by the CICA, all of which can be assisted by having a legal representative.

Oakwood Solicitors Ltd

**Why choose Oakwood Solicitors Ltd?**

Here at Oakwood Solicitors, we agree to work on your CICA claim on a no-win, no-fee basis. If your claim is unsuccessful, you will not be expected to pay us a penny. If you are successful in your claim, we take a percentage of the compensation meaning that the only time we will receive money is if we have brought your claim to a fruitful conclusion.

You will have a dedicated advisor who will see your claim through from start to finish, assisting you in the event of any queries or issues you may have. If it is preferable to you, we are able to assign you one of our female advisors to carry out your claim. Your case handler will also continue to provide regular updates until the conclusion of your claim, ensuring the process is as stress-free and effortless as possible.

The Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (CICA) Appeal Process – How Does it Work?