About the CICA
Criminal Injury Compensation Specialists for the UK
When the CICA receive your criminal injury compensation application form from us, they give it a unique personal reference number.
Initially, the Claims Assessment Section will write to the police and ask for details of the incident. When this information is to hand, a caseworker is assigned to your claim.
Enquiries do take time and there can be quite a wait in some circumstances. Sometimes the CICA will have to request further details if something is not clear at first instance. When the police information is assessed, the CICA will contact the hospital and your doctor/dentist for information about your injury. Again, this may take some time.
The CICA aim to provide a decision in 90% of the cases within 12 months
When all this information has been received, the file is passed to a claims officer, who will decide if an award will be made and for how much.
If the offender has been identified and yet to be brought to trial, then the CICA will wait until the verdict of the trial before they make a decision. The reason for this is that the CICA cannot be seen to giving an opinion on the issues of the trial. Also, issues may arise during the trial which may be relevant to your criminal injury compensation claim.
If you do not agree with the decision, you can appeal. Initially, this is undertaken by a more senior officer. This review decision can also be appealed to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel. This body is completely independent from the CICA.
If you ask for a review of your claim, the whole case is examined again. The decision can be to keep the award the same, reduce the award, increase the award or even withdraw the award.
We can help you gain criminal injury compensation.............