CICA Application

When the CICA receive your completed application form, they will give you and your solicitors a personal reference number. They will then contact the police and, if necessary  your doctor or the hospital that treated you, and any other organisations or people with relevant information about your claim.

 

As soon as your case is registered the CICA start their enquiries by gathering information from the police to ensure that you are eligible. When the police report is received a decision will be made as to whether they can take your application further. If you are required to provide more information before the final decision can be made your legal representative will advise you upon the same. It can sometimes take time to collect this information but the CICA do work closely with the police and medical authorities to get it as quickly as possible. They will then inform you of their decision.

 

 

The CICA can take up to a year or more to make a final decision. More complex cases can take longer, especially if they involve loss of earnings or future medical expenses.

Wherever possible, the CICA will settle applications by offering a single payment of compensation - a final award. But they are only able to do this if your medical condition and financial losses are clear. If there is likely to be a long delay in getting this information, but you are clearly eligible for compensation, they may be able to pay some of the money before the final award is made. This is called an interim payment and will be deducted from your final payment.

 

 

As soon as the CICA make a decision, they will inform you or your representative what it is.

 

If they have reduced or refused an award, you will be given an explanation as to why.

 

 

If you wish to accept the CICA decision, you will need to sign the acceptance form provided and return it either directly to the CICA or alternatively to your criminal injury solicitor.

 

The written acceptance of an award must be given within 90 days of the date the decision was issued. If this is not provided to the CICA within 90 days and you do not apply for a review, the award may be withdrawn.

 

 

If you or your legal representatives disagree with the CICA decision, you can ask for it to be reviewed. A review form will be sent to the CICA and they will look at the application further. The person who made the first decision will not make the review decision.

 

 

If you disagree with the review decision your representative can appeal to the Tribunals Service - Criminal Injuries Compensation (TS), who are independent from CICA.

 

 

The CICA pay awards electronically to bank or building society accounts.

 

The CICA no longer accepts instructions to make an award payable to anyone other than the applicant. This policy applies to applications received on or after 7 October 2010. Applications received prior to this date will continue to have the facility to pay an applicant's award to a nominated person such as a representative, friend or relative should the applicant instruct us to do so.

 

This change in policy does not affect applications made on behalf of adults who do not manage their own financial affairs or applications made on behalf of children or young people. We will continue to operate a policy of retaining awards until children or young people reach the age of 18, as outlined below.

Special arrangements for payment of awards

 

The CICA may sometimes need to make special arrangements for paying an award, to take account of the circumstances of the victim or other relevant issues.

For example, if the victim is a child they will retain the award in an interest-bearing bank account until the child is 18 years old. Awards for adults legally incapable of handling their own affairs may be paid into trusts for the applicant’s benefit.