Criminal Injuries Compensation For Stabbing or Knife Crime Victims

The deadline for claiming for you criminal injuries from CICA is usually 2 years from the date of incident.

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time is a situation that can happen to any one of us. However, you must be aware of the CICA strict criteria for making a claim of these type of injuries. It is important that anyone making a claim under the CICA scheme was not involved in either causing the incident (for example a fight) that led to them being stabbed or otherwise contributed to the injuries by failing to safeguard themselves.

CICA will consider the conduct, cooperation and convictions of a victim before deciding whether compensation can be made regarding the injuries. This means you must be the innocent victim and not have contributed to the assault/incident in any way; the crime must have been reported to the police as soon as reasonably practicable and you must have cooperated with the police investigation. Your own criminal convictions, should you have any, must be spent before making a claim from CICA.

The CICA can offer awards between £1000 and £250,000 for injuries sustained as a result of a violent crime. There is also an opportunity to claim up to an additional £250,000 for the Loss of Earnings and Special Expenses, funeral expenses and Child Dependency payments. You can use our Criminal Injuries Compensation Calculator to see how much you can claim.

An award under the CICA scheme is based on a level tariff valuation system. You cam claim fixed amounts for certain types of injuries. It can be very difficult to exactly value a knife wound or stabbing crime case as often the damage caused can be complex, injuring muscles and tendons etc. which lead to long term disability or loss of function. Each case must therefore be assessed on its own merits but below are some examples of payouts for stabbing victim can claims:

• Scarring (Face): £2400 – £11,000
• Scarring (Neck): £1500 – £4600
• Scarring (Other Body Parts): £1000 – £3500
• Wound Requiring Surgery: £1800 – £3500
• Serious Impaired Grip: £6200
• Punctured Lung: £1500 – £4600
• Collapsed Lung: £1800 – £6200
• Tendon Damage: £1500 – £16,500

You can clearly notice that these award are not much especially involving the nature of the trauma involved. It might be possible that you also suffered mental trauma or anxiety arising from a stabbing incident. In such cases, you will be able to claim for a higher award if your injuries lead to a diagnosed disabling mental health condition such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This will need to be fully evidenced by a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. CICA won’t accept any prognosis by a GP.

It may also be possible to claim for the loss of earnings if you cannot work as a direct result of the incident. The CICA do not pay any award for the loss of earnings for the first 28 weeks of any period of loss.

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of crime related to knife assaults and stabbing injuries in the UK particularly in the London. Many of the knife assaults and stabbing result in serious injuries or death or mental and physiological trauma.

If you have been stabbed or suffered injury as a result of a knife related assault or because of stabbing, you may be entitled to claim compensation from criminal injuries compensation authority (CICA).

It is important to understand that whilst a Stabbing would be defined as a crime of violence under the CICA scheme, simply because one has sustained a stab wound, does not automatically entitle to them to compensation.

You can claim compensation from CICA for scarring, internal injuries, tendon or ligament damage and fractures associated with stabbings. It may also be possible to claim for psychological trauma if this has been diagnosed by a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. You can also claim for loss of earning if you can’t able to work for more than 28 weeks as a direct result of that particular incident.

If you have a stab wound that has healed completely with no appreciable scarring or any other associated injury – it is unlikely that you will be able to claim for the act of stabbing alone.

You can submit a claim application under a scheme operated by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) an agency of the Ministry of Justice. To make your claim under the CICA scheme you must have reported the knife assault or stabbing crime to the police and received medical treatment for any wound or injury received as a direct result of crime.

It is possible to claim for scarring where the scars are significant. CICA will ask for the photos of the scarring and only you can claim for permanent scarring. CICA does not pay compensation for any bruising or soft tissue injury.

CICA claims process can to take around 6 to 12 months from that date of the claim application submitted to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. However, There are a number of outside organisations which we must rely upon for providing the evidence to CICA to support your case, such as police and medical agencies.

CICA claim might take longer in some case. Sometime in stabbing cases or knife crimes, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) may decide to prosecute the assailant. If they do decide to prosecute, then the police report is not normally released until the trial is over. This can delay compensation award by a number of months. However, do not wait until the trial is over and you should submit your claim as soon as possible.