What is a CICA Claim?
A CICA claim is an application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, the UK government body that provides financial compensation to victims of violent crime, including sexual abuse, physical abuse, and other criminal assaults. You do not need a criminal conviction to apply, and in many cases, you do not need to have reported the abuse to the police, although this can affect the outcome of your claim.
Compensation is funded by the government, not paid by the perpetrator, and is calculated using a tariff system based on the nature and severity of the injuries suffered. Awards range from £1,000 to over £500,000 in the most serious cases, with additional payments potentially available for loss of earnings and care costs.
CICA Abuse Claims We Can Help With
Our specialist abuse claims team has extensive experience supporting survivors across a wide range of circumstances. You don’t need to know which type of claim applies to you. We’ll listen to your story, assess your situation, and explain your options clearly.
Sexual Abuse Claims
Sexual abuse causes profound and lasting harm, and survivors are entitled to seek compensation regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred. We handle CICA claims arising from childhood sexual abuse, adult sexual assault, and historic institutional abuse, managing every aspect of the process sensitively and at a pace that works for you.
Historic Abuse Claims
Most of our clients come to us with abuse claims that happened years or decades ago. The standard time limit for a CICA claim is two years from the date of the incident, but in our experience, it is rare for a historic sexual abuse claim to be refused purely on time limit grounds. The CICA has discretion to accept late applications where exceptional circumstances exist, and our team has helped many survivors in exactly this position. If you think it may be too late for you to claim, please speak to us before assuming that’s the case.
Claims Involving Multiple Incidents and Grooming Gangs
Farleys has particular expertise in acting for victims of grooming gangs, including those in Rochdale, Rotherham, Oxford, and the North East of England. These are among the most complex cases within the CICA Scheme, and they require a specialist approach from the outset. Where abuse has involved multiple incidents or perpetrators, how claims are submitted and how injuries are assessed matters enormously. In a number of our cases, we have secured multiple separate CICA payments by persuading the authority to treat individual assaults differently, rather than applying a single combined award.
Challenging Refusals on Character and Convictions Grounds
The CICA has the power to reduce or refuse an award where it considers an applicant’s character or criminal record makes payment inappropriate. We are increasingly seeing the authority attempt to refuse awards not because of past convictions, but by drawing on references in medical records. These decisions must be challenged, and our team has significant experience doing so. If your claim has been refused on these grounds, please contact us; it may not be the end of the road.
Re-Opening Previous CICA Claims
Many abuse survivors received a CICA payment in the past that reflected only their immediate injuries, without accounting for long-term psychiatric harm or the impact on their ability to work. In certain circumstances, it is possible to reopen a closed case. We have done this successfully on behalf of many clients, including one case in which over £200,000 was recovered after a claim was reopened. If you received a CICA award previously and feel it didn’t reflect the full extent of what you’ve been through, we can advise on whether revisiting your case is an option.
Domestic Violence and Abuse Claims
Domestic violence and coercive control are recognised as qualifying offences under the CICA Scheme. There are specific eligibility conditions that apply in these cases, particularly around the relationship between claimant and perpetrator, and we’ll explain them clearly and give you an honest view of your prospects before you decide whether to proceed.
Am I Eligible to Make a CICA Claim?
To qualify for CICA compensation, you generally need to meet the following conditions: the abuse must have taken place in Great Britain; it should have been reported to the police, or there must be a good reason why it wasn’t; and your application needs to be submitted within the relevant time limit, though the CICA does have discretion to extend this in appropriate circumstances. Your criminal record may also be taken into account in some cases, though this is something we can advise and advocate on your behalf.
Many survivors who contact us believe they won’t qualify because too much time has passed, because they didn’t report the abuse, or because of other concerns. In our experience, those assumptions are often wrong. Please speak to us before ruling yourself out.
Why Choose Farleys as Your CICA Solicitors?
Our abuse claims survivors across the UK trust our team because we combine genuine expertise with genuine care. Here’s what makes us different:
- Specialist CICA solicitors with several decades of experience, including complex historical, multi-perpetrator, and grooming gang cases.
- We regularly secure awards in excess of £100,000 — and in one case recovered over £1.6 million for a victim of historic sexual abuse.
- A specialist panel of psychiatrists to support claims for psychiatric injury and to address time limit challenges in historic cases.
- We work at your pace, in complete confidence — there’s no pressure at any stage.
- Plain English throughout — we’ll always explain where things stand and why.
