The first version of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme was introduced by Great Britain in 1964, under which the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority or the CICA has undertaken the responsibility of compensating violent crime victims who are suffering from physical or mental injury as a result of the crime. A CICA claim can also compensate for loss of income, and bereavement when death is an unfortunate consequence of the violent crime. The CICA is the oldest criminal injury compensation authority in the world, handling more than 80,000 cases every year and paying over 200 million pounds in compensation. This means you are not just dealing with just about any ordinary authority, but among the best and most trusted authorities in the world.

Since the beginning of 1996, the CICA has implemented a fixed tariff criminal injury compensation scheme, which the parliament in the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1995 has set to help those wanting or who are qualified to file for a criminal injury claim. The minimum amount that you can receive under this scheme is 1,000 pounds, whilst the maximum amount that you can be compensated for is 250,000 pounds.

The CICA is the right authority to handle your requests for criminal injury compensation, but then you need to prove that you have indeed suffered from a physical or mental blow directly resulting from the violent crime. In proving your self, you must establish that a crime, indeed, happened. Then you must look for a personal injury solicitor from whom you need to secure a compensation form to fill out and return to the CICA.

The CICA will then duly acknowledge having received the completed form and will then begin the processing of your claim, which it is not uncommon to take as long as one and a half years in some cases to complete.

If you are not satisfied with the amount of compensation that you have received you can always submit a request within 90 days from the time you received your award in order to have your case reviewed. If you are still not happy with the result, you can make an appeal to the Panel of the CICA within 30 days, then if still you feel that the amount cannot compensate for all your losses, you can appeal to the High Court this time.

The very first thing you must do after falling victim to a crime is to consult a criminal injury solicitor as soon as possible so you can be guided as to any alternative compensation you can be entitled to. A personal injury claim can be expensive, though, so if you do not have enough funds to battle this out in court, you can seek the possibility of making a compensation claim through a no win no fee solicitor.