Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme Review: additional consultation 2023

Overview

This consultation seeks to gather views on potential changes to the scope and time limits of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (the Scheme) in response to the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

We previously undertook a public consultation in 2020 on recommendations from a review of the Scheme. In this, we sought views on proposals to improve the experience of victims applying to the Scheme, by making it simpler and easier to navigate. Although the consultation examined the scope and time limits of the Scheme it concluded that the current rules were working well and did not propose any changes. We subsequently conducted a supplementary consultation in 2022, on whether to reform the unspent convictions eligibility rule of the Scheme, as proposed by the Inquiry in its Interim Report in 2018 and restated in the final report.

In October 2022, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (the Inquiry) published its final report. It recommended that the scope of the Scheme be extended to include other forms of child sexual abuse, including online-facilitated sexual abuse; and that the time limit for applications in relation to incidents of child sexual abuse be increased to seven years from the current two. In response to these final recommendations, we are publishing this third consultation paper to invite views on potential reforms to the scope and time limits of the Scheme, including those recommended by the Inquiry, alongside the option of no reform.

Decisions on whether to amend the scope and time limits of the Scheme will be made in conjunction with decisions on whether to revise the unspent convictions rule and to implement any of the other changes on which we have consulted during the review of the Scheme. In doing so, we will consider carefully all views and representations made by respondents to this consultation and the two previous consultations in 2020 and 2022.