Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what support her Department provides to victims of violent crimes who have been waiting more than twelve months for a decision on their Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority claim.

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

The majority of applications are decided within 12 months. Each case must be considered on its own facts and assessed based on the information available. In almost all cases, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) needs to get information from third parties such as the police and medical authorities to help assess applications.

Some applications will by necessity take longer to decide. This could be where information is not available due to ongoing court proceedings, CICA needs time to assess the long-term impacts of complex injuries (e.g. brain injuries), or where there is an application for loss of earnings where the 2012 Scheme requires at least 28 weeks of loss.