Sexual Abuse is defined as a heinous crime that can cause both mental and physical injuries. These can be life-threatening, cause a loss of earnings and can impact victims for the rest of their lives.
The CICA Scheme introduced by the government allows victims of sexual abuse crimes to claim compensation for their injuries, including any mental injuries they may have sustained during the incident.
Here at CICA UK, we aim to help victims of sexual abuse by working on their behalf to bring them justice and compensation via the official CICA scheme.
How to Claim from CICA for Mental Injuries
In order to make a claim from the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority, victims will need to meet certain requirements. One of these is ensuring that you are making a claim within 2 years of the date the incident occurred or within 2 years of the date that you reported it to the police. There are some exceptions to this rule however, such as historic child abuse and fear of reporting a crime due to the nature of the circumstances.
The CICA scheme works off a tariff system when awarding compensation for physical and psychological injuries. The lowest someone can claim for the scheme is £1000, which is awarded to victims of nonpenetrative sexual acts over the clothing. For repeated episodes of rape exceeding over 3 years, for example, victims can be awarded upwards of £44,000.
If you suffer from a mental injury as well as a physical injury, the CICA scheme will only pay for the one with the highest value. You will not receive compensation for both injuries. This is done because, overall, the tariff for sexual assault takes into account the possible mental trauma a victim would sustain during such an incident.
The term mental injury does not include temporary mental anxiety, and a report from a professional psychologist will be required to serve as evidence of severe mental trauma and injury.
As well as compensation for mental trauma, claimants can also claim for loss of earnings.
If you’d like to know more about claiming for mental injuries after sexual abuse, please get in touch with us today.
