Common Misconceptions About CICA Claims

Home » News & Knowledge » Debunking The Most Common Misconceptions About CICA Claims

An article for those in doubt.

Many potential applicants for CICA claims have certain preconceptions about how the CICA scheme works and what they are entitled to receive. These are the most commonly debunked:

CICA claims get victims compensation from the person who caused their injuries

This is not the case. Any compensation provided by the CICA is from the government, not the assailant. Assailants will not be informed of claims or be involved in any respect. CICA claims focus on applicants and how their injuries have affected them.

It is important to note that if you are seeking justice or money from your assailant, a CICA claim is not the best option for you.

Any injury suffered due to a crime is eligible for a payout

This is absolutely untrue. In order to receive an award from the CICA, injuries need to be of a certain severity. As a government run scheme, the CICA do not like to pay out and will therefore only award for certain more serious injuries.

Injuries can generally only receive awards if they are listed on the CICA’s Tariff of Injuries, this is a large list which contains set awards for certain injuries.

Common injuries which cannot receive awards include:

Broken nose
Broken ribs
Bruising
Minor cuts or scrapes
Feeling slightly more paranoid or scared after an incident for a week or so

Debunking The Most Common Misconceptions About CICA Claims

CICA claims can result in millions of pounds in compensation

This would be nice if true! However again as the CICA are a government run scheme, awards for injuries are generally within the low £1000s. The lowest award the CICA can make is £1,000 and the highest award is £500,000 (although this would be extremely rare).

CICA awards can be made for stolen or damaged property

Unfortunately this is not the case. CICA claims are generally only focused on physical or psychological injuries. They do not include compensation for any stolen items or damaged property. However some compensation can be awarded for loss of earnings where applicants have been out of work for more than 28 weeks due to their injuries.

An applicant simply declaring they have a psychological injury is enough to receive compensation

Absolutely not. The CICA will not make awards for psychological injuries, such as anxiety or PTSD, without clear medical evidence to support this. This includes either a diagnosis or prognosis from a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist.

The CICA also require that psychological injuries are disabling, this means that any temporary mental trauma is not eligible. Therefore alone simply declaring this type of injury has been received will not result in an award.

CICA claims are quick

This is not the case for the majority of claims. The CICA provide an average time scale of 12-18 months for claims to complete from start to finish. This does depend on how fast evidence can be provided to the CICA which they require to progress claims, for example any medical or police information.

The benefit of having a legal representative to run your claim is that they can take the time to push the CICA for updates and monitor their progress with your claim.