If you have suffered injury or psychological harm as a result of a crime you may be entitled to make a claim to the government for criminal compensation. Whilst claiming for injury can be straightforward assuming your case is eligible, trying to recover lost earnings, wages, loss of income or business revenue can be much more difficult.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) administer the compensation scheme for the government and they have put together a set of complex rules to determine how lost income claims should be managed. Making a claim for lost earnings due to related incapacity is not easy and it is strongly recommended you seek legal advice.
We discuss the rules and eligibility criteria for loss of earnings below. Please feel free to get in touch if you wish to discuss your claim or require legal representation.
Call us to discuss your case today – 01423 593 002 or complete our enquiry form
The process to reclaim lost earnings or income is not simple. In our view the CICA scheme is deliberately complex regarding the issue and this reduces the opportunity to recover genuine losses suffered by innocent victims of crime. However if your criteria fits, some compensation can be claimed and in the example of someone with long-term issues the system can help and can make a difference to your life.
DO NOT EXPECT THE CICA TO MENTION YOUR RIGHT TO CLAIM BACK LOST INCOME – they invariably do not mention it at all during a compensation case.
The rules that determine eligibility for a loss of earnings award are set out in the 2012 Criminal Injury Compensation Scheme. In order to make a claim you must meet the criteria outlined below:
Further to this the CICA will not pay any earnings award for the first 28 weeks of any period of loss. Your claim therefore begins on the 29th week and that means unless you are on long term absence, no award can be considered.
The final point to be aware of is that the maximum CICA loss of earnings weekly award is fixed at the value of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) which is currently £95.85 per week. If you earn more than this sum, you will be extremely disappointed to learn that you cannot recover the losses you have sustained. It is however possible to claim compensation of £4984.20 per year where long-term incapacity is established.
If you are seeking an earnings based award from the CICA you must have crystal clear medical evidence to show that the criminal injury for which you are claiming, has led to your incapacity. Where other factors come into the discussion, for example a further unrelated injury or other reason for not working, this may well damage your prospects for re-claiming earnings. A good example would be someone who has crime related psychological issues and genuine incapacity arising, but also suffers serious physical disability or illness that may be unrelated. This would make a claim much more complex.
It is not possible to claim for loss of career opportunity. Nor can you claim for diminution or reduced earnings due to a related injury. The scheme wording is very clever in terms of ruling out any award for those that have even a little capacity to work.
You will need to establish that you were in work and earning a salary for a period of at least 3 years prior to any criminal injury being sustained. You can show this by providing wage slips or if they are not available HMRC will provide you with a summary of your tax credits and earnings during a specified period. You can make an enquiry with HMRC here.
Please get in touch to chat about your case today.
Call us to discuss your case today – 01423 593 002 or complete our enquiry form