Claim compensation if you were the victim of a violent crime
Eligibility
The crime must have happened in England, Wales or Scotland. It must be both:
- reported to the police
- a violent crime
You cannot get compensation for an accident. For example, you will not qualify for compensation if you were:
- attacked by a dog and the person controlling the dog did not intend to harm you
- injured by a vehicle during an accident, and the driver did not intend to harm you
The process is different if the crime happened in Northern Ireland or the crime happened in another country.
When you can claim
In most cases you must apply within 2 years of the crime happening.
You may be able to claim for a crime that happened more than 2 years ago if one or both of the following apply:
- you’re claiming because of childhood sexual or physical abuse
- you could not claim earlier, for example because your mental or physical health stopped you
You may also be able to claim if the crime happened before 1 October 1979 and you lived with the attacker as a family member at the time of the incident. This was known as the ‘same roof’ rule.
What you can get compensation for
You can get compensation for:
- physical injuries
- disabling mental injuries
- sexual or physical abuse
- the death of a close relative
- paying for someone’s funeral
- loss of earnings and expenses
Disabling mental injuries
A ‘disabling mental injury’ is something that makes it much harder to do the things you would normally do - for example working, going to college or university, seeing friends or having a relationship.
Mental injuries must also:
- last for at least 6 weeks
- be diagnosed by a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist
Loss of earnings and expenses
You might get compensation for loss of earnings, or paid expenses to cover the cost of:
- care, home adaptations or mobility aids
- damage to physical aids, such as dentures, walking sticks or glasses
You usually have to be unable to work or have very limited ability to work for 28 weeks or longer to be eligible.
You will not be paid loss of earnings for the first 28 weeks you were unable to work.
You must have been employed when the crime happened or for the 3 years immediately before it. If you were not employed, you might still be eligible if you could not work, for example because you were in full-time education, retired or caring for someone.
How much you can get
You may be eligible for an injury payment of between £1,000 and £250,000.
The amount will be determined by:
- the type and severity of injury you’ve suffered
- how much you’ve recovered (returned to normal)
- how long the symptoms will last
- the level of any disability caused
You can apply for multiple injuries.
Types of injury
Decision-makers use a ‘tariff of injuries’ to decide the level of compensation. This could include, for example:
- scarring to the face leading to significant disfigurement (£2,400)
- sexual assault (£11,000)
- bereavement payment (£11,000)
- complete paralysis or very serious brain injury (up to £250,000)
You can find full details of the tariff of injuries in Annex E of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012. This contains graphic details of injury and disablement.
Your nationality
You must have been one of the following when the crime happened:
- a British citizen or EU or EEA national (or their close relative)
- a family member of an EU or EEA national who has the right to be in the UK
- a member of the armed forces (or you’re a close relative living in their household)
- a potential victim of human trafficking on or before the date of your application - this must be confirmed by the UK Human Trafficking Centre and UK Visas and Immigration
- an asylum seeker
- a national of a country that has signed up to the Council of Europe Convention on the Compensation of Victim of Violent Crimes
You’re also eligible if you were ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK at the time of the crime. This depends on your connection to the UK, for example if you were living, working or studying there (or you were the family member of someone who was).