Violent Crime Victims 'Compensated Too Slowly'

Victims of violent crime are being compensated too slowly, according to the latest report from the National Audit Office.

The NAO reported said that the performance of the body responsible for paying statutory financial compensation to victims of violent crime, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, has declined since it was last reported on in 2000 and said that it has also consistently failed to meet its targets during that period.

The NAO report's said that the CICA received 61,000 applications for compensation in 2006-07 and paid out £192 million to victims. However, the report said that the average time to resolve a case has increased by over 40%, from 364 days in 1998-99 to 515 days in 2006-07.

Over the same period, however, there was also a fall of 23% in the number of applications the Authority receives each year, in line with the fall in violent crime over the same period.

At October 2007, there were 81,600 unresolved cases at the Authority and 2,400 at the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel, the independent body which considers appeals against the Authority's decisions.

There has also been a reduction in the number of cases resolved each year by CICA, from 74,900 in 1998-99 to 59,100 in 2006-07.

The NAO also said that there had been an increase in CICA's annual administration costs of £4.2 million, after allowing for inflation, which has led to an increase of 54% in the average unit cost of processing a case to £400 in 2006-07.

The report also said that CICA's processes, which apply in 80% per cent of cases, were "bureaucratic and repetitive", while around half the applications were unsuccessful, the same rate as in 2000, in spite of work to reduce ineligible claims.

Referring to the applications from those injured in the London bombings of July 2005, the NAO found that those cases were dealt with more quickly, but not to the detriment of other cases already in the system, as a specialist team dealt with these cases.

The NAO said that the CICA should provide guidance about what information is essential in order to improve the quality and completeness of applications and reduce ineligible claims.

Sir John Bourne, Head of the National Audit Office, said: "The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority's performance has got worse since I last reported on it in 2000. It is taking longer to deal with cases, it has not reduced the number of ineligible applications and has frequently missed its targets over the years.

"Delays in resolving these issues can make it more difficult for victims to move on from a traumatic experience. CICA has started a major overhaul of how it operates. We look to CICA to make swift improvements in the service it provides to victims."

(KMcA)