Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the average length of time taken by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to process applications; and if he will bring forward proposals to implement a time limit by which applications must be decided.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (the 2012 Scheme) does not prescribe a time limit for applications to be decided.

Most applications are decided within 12 months. Each case must be considered on its own facts. In most cases, CICA requires information from third parties such as the police and medical authorities in order to decide a claim.

Some applications will by necessity take longer to decide. This could be where information is not available due to ongoing court proceedings, where CICA needs time to assess the long-term impact of complex injuries (e.g. brain injuries), or where there is an application for loss of earnings (which requires at least 28 weeks of loss).

In the financial year 2024-25, the average time to make a decision was 370 days.

The figure does not include applications deferred under paragraph 98 of the 2012 Scheme.