Historic Sexual Abuse CICA Application

Background

This case was one which involved historic sexual abuse.  Our client was a minor, aged 10 years, when the abuse occurred.  The truth of what happened to him only came to light after he was contacted by the police, his abuser having admitted his actions.

Progression of Case

The first step of every new claim we accept is to undertake an assessment of the potential claim.  Having ascertained that this is a claim that had a good prospect of success, we then completed the CICA online application form with our client, obtained his verbal consent, and set about obtaining the evidence needed to support this claim.

Four weeks after submitting our client’s application to the CICA we contacted them to obtain an update.  To our surprise, the CICA wrote to us, advising that this claim was being rejected under paragraph 4 of the Scheme, as the police evidence stated that no crime of violence took place.  This rejection was, in our view, unwarranted, so our next step was to submit an ‘Application for Review’.

We submitted an ‘Application for Review’ (AFR) to the CICA, attaching supporting evidence, then awaited their response.

This was a difficult time for our client; the process of making a Criminal Injuries claim can be a daunting one, even more so having had their claim initially rejected and having to go through the review process, so we always ensure that we support our clients through the process, contacting them on a regular basis to check in with them, provide updates on the progress of their claim and answer any questions they may have.

After five weeks, the CICA contacted us to request medical evidence of our client’s mental health injury, and advised that our AFR had been successful.  We advised our client of this success, then set about obtaining the medical evidence the CICA requested whilst continuing to support our client through what can be a trying process and ensuring that he was always up-to-date with the actions we were taking and the progress we were making.

Outcome

Finally, eight months after submitting our client’s claim, we received an offer from the CICA.  We advised our client of this offer, which, after consideration and discussion with ourselves, he decided to accept. 

Two weeks later our client received his compensation payment, and was happy to provide the review below.