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- More information about the First-tier Tribunal (Criminal Injuries Compensation)
The new unified Tribunals system – TCE Act 2007
FAQs for Criminal Injuries Customers and Service Users
What has happened to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel?
Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel (CICAP) became part of the Social Entitlement Chamber on 3 November 2008 and the new rules came into effect on that same day.
The new rules will apply to appeals received by the Tribunal after 3 November. They will also apply, as far as possible, to appeals started before that date and still in progress.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel will be referred to as the First-tier Tribunal (Criminal Injuries Compensation).
How will these changes affect Criminal Injuries Customers and Service Users?
- Essentially the service for users will remain the same. All appeals against review decisions of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority will continue to be decided by experienced CIC Adjudicators in accordance with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme;
- Trained, knowledgeable staff will continue to administer and progress appeals. The administration process will be centralised in TS-CIC’s Glasgow office and all operational work will transfer to Glasgow by 3 November 2008. New staff have been recruited and trained in advance of work being transferred to minimise the impact on service delivery;
- Oral hearings will continue to be heard by a panel of at least two Tribunal Members who are qualified to hear and decide Criminal Injuries Compensation appeals;
- Criminal Injuries Compensation appeals are heard in Tribunals Service venues in (currently) 14 locations in England, Wales and Scotland. These are: Aberdeen; Birmingham; Bristol; Cardiff; Dundee; Glasgow; Leicester; Liverpool; London; Manchester; Newcastle; Nottingham; Plymouth and Taunton. Occasionally hearings may be held in Court Service or other accommodation;
So what changes will the new Rules make?
- The new Rules will set out the decision making and case management processes to be followed in each Chamber. They will replace paragraphs 61-82 of the 2001 Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, which currently govern the appeal processes;
- The introduction of new rules, which to some extent standardises procedures across the Chamber, means that there will be some changes in the way Criminal Injuries Compensation appeals are dealt with. But some provisions, specific to Criminal Injuries Compensation appeals, preserve current processes;
- Under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, the Authority will continue to provide written explanations of review decisions and the basis upon which they were made;
- However, under the new rules the Authority will send copies of all relevant documents they have in response to an appellant’s notice of appeal as soon as reasonably practicable after receipt of the Notice of Appeal. This will be much earlier than has been the case to date since, at present, the appellant will not normally receive these documents until a few weeks before the appeal hearing;
- There will be set time-limits for doing things; for example, appellants will have one month to send any further documents in reply to the Authority’s response but they can apply to extend any time limit set by the rules or a direction of the Tribunal;
- The Tribunal will be able to decide a greater range of appeals without a hearing - subject to a right to apply for reconsideration of the decision at a hearing in many cases. A Tribunal Judge will decide whether a hearing is necessary;
- It is normal for both the appellant and the Authority to cooperate fully with the Tribunal. However, there will be a new ‘duty’ on the appellant and the Authority to co-operate with the Tribunal and new power to strike out appeals in certain circumstances; for example, if the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to decide the appeal or if the appellant fails to co-operate to such an extent that the Tribunal cannot deal with the case fairly and justly;
- Applications for Judicial Review of a decision by the Tribunal in a Criminal Injuries Compensation appeal in England and Wales will be made to the Upper Tribunal rather than at the High Court. Applications against a decision in Scotland will continue to be made to the Outer House of the Court of Session;
- There will be some changes to the forms and letters sent to appellants. This is partly to take account of new terms and processes introduced by the rules and to reflect our new identity - as part of the Social Entitlement Chamber;
- The office of Chairman of CICAP ceases to exist on 3 November 2008. The present Chairman, Mr Roger Goodier, will become the Principal Judge for the TS-CIC jurisdiction.
Will I be required to provide more evidence?
- The amount of information necessary to decide your case will remain the same. The Tribunal will, as now, decide your case on the basis of all the documents and evidence the Authority had when they made their review decision and further information, documents and evidence provided since the review decision, including oral evidence at a hearing.
Advice on ‘onward appeals’
- The decision of the tribunal will normally be final. There is always a right to apply for a review by either the Upper Tribunal (in England & Wales) or the Outer House of the Court of Session in Scotland on the grounds that the tribunal’s decision is wrong in law. Further details of this right will be included in the ‘Tribunal’s Decision Notice’ issued in every case.
Whom shall I speak to about specific cases after October 2008?
You should contact the Tribunals Service office in Glasgow who deals with Criminal Injuries Compensation appeals.
Tribunals ServiceFirst-tier Tribunal (Criminal Injuries Compensation)
Wellington House
134-136 Wellington Street
Glasgow
G2 2XL
Tel: 0141 354 8555
Fax: 0141 354 8556
How can I make a complaint?
You can make a complaint, pay a compliment or comment on any aspect of the Tribunal’s administrative service you receive in the same way as you do now. You can contact our office and explain why you are unhappy with our service. A member of staff will talk to you about your complaint and try to resolve it immediately. If this is not possible, he or she will aim to respond to you in full within 10 working days, giving details of who to contact if you are not satisfied with the response.
To complain about the hearing or the conduct of the tribunal panel you should contact the Principal Judge for Criminal Injuries Compensation appeals at:
11th Floor, Cardinal Tower12 Farringdon Road
London
EC1M 3HS
Will paperwork and guidance be the same?
There will be some changes to the forms and letters we send you. This is partly to take account of new terms and processes introduced by the rules and partly to reflect CICAP’s new identity as part of the Social Entitlement Chamber. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel will now be referred to as Tribunals Service – Criminal Injuries Compensation.
In revising our guidance to take account of the new Rules, we will take the opportunity to re-design it to the Tribunals Service style.
Further information about the appeal process for Criminal Injury Compensation appeals, where these appeals are heard and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme is available on the Tribunals Service website at www.cicap.gov.uk or E-mail: enquiries.
The First-Tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) Rules 2008 can be accessed here.
Are there any more changes in the future?
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2008 also comes into effect on 3 November 2008. This new Scheme omits the sections in previous Schemes relating to the process for appealing against a review decision of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. This is now dealt with in the new Social Entitlement Chamber rules (First-Tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) Rules 2008). Other changes to the Scheme are intended to clarify the intent of the scheme where there is ambiguity, restoring the original intention of the scheme where court judgments or operational experience have suggested that the wording is not doing the job properly or help streamline the scheme’s processes.
The key changes are:
- Simplification of the rules on loss of earnings and future earning capacity, the payment of awards in fatal cases and the reduction of compensation on the grounds of benefits received from other sources and avoidance of circumstances in which claimants receive double payment from the state;
- Making clear that to qualify for an award, not only must the injury have been sustained in Great Britain but it must also be directly attributable to an act occurring in Great Britain;
- Strengthening of the criteria for withholding or reducing awards on account of the claimant’s previous unspent criminal convictions;
- Changes to the criteria on time limits for applying for compensation and for accepting offers of an award to stop unfairness and anomalies arising from the use of discretion in the criteria; and
- Changes to the tariff of injuries.
[DN taken from Hansard Debate of the Hansard Committee on General Delegated Legislation – 14 July 2008]
The 2008 Scheme will apply to applications for compensation made after 3 November 2008. It will be some time before any of these applications reach the appeal stage of the process.
For further information on CICAP please e-mail: enquiries.
