CICA Scheme Guidance for Claims Officers
Summary
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) published guidance for its claims officers on applying the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012. The guidance covers policy interpretations for awarding compensation to victims of violent crime in England, Scotland, and Wales. Supporting guidance notes address specific topics including immediate payments, substantial recovery, medically recognised illness, scarring, burns, facial fractures, child abuse, FGM, and care needs assessment.
What changed
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority issued comprehensive guidance for its claims officers on how to interpret and apply the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012. The guidance includes a complete policy document and nine specific guidance notes covering areas such as immediate payments, substantial recovery, medically recognised illness, scarring, burns, multiple facial fractures, physical abuse of children, female genital mutilation, and assessing care needs and costs.
Claims officers must use this guidance when processing compensation applications from victims of violent crime. The guidance reinforces that injury awards are intended as acknowledgement of harm and public sympathy, noting that no compensation can make up for the harm caused. The scheme applies to England, Scotland, and Wales, with separate guidance available for Northern Ireland.
What to do next
- Follow the published guidance when determining compensation claims
- Refer to specific guidance notes for assessing injury categories
- Apply the rules of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 consistently
Archived snapshot
Apr 16, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
Guidance
CICA scheme guidance
Guidance for claims officers of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) on how to apply the rules of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012.
From: Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority Published 5 September 2025 Last updated 2 March 2026
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Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Print this page The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (the Scheme) is government-funded and designed to compensate victims of violent crime in Great Britain.
The rules of the Scheme and the value of the payments awarded are set by the Secretary of State and approved by Parliament.
Every decision is taken by a claims officer after carefully considering all the available information. It is a claims officer’s role to determine claims using the rules set down in the statutory Scheme we operate. This guidance is for them to use when considering compensation claims.
We recognise that no amount of compensation can ever make up for the harm and suffering caused to victims by violent crime. Injury awards are intended to be an acknowledgement of harm and an important gesture of public sympathy.
You may also find our guide to the Scheme and step-by-step guide to the application process helpful.
You can apply online.
Scheme guidance
2012 Scheme policy guidance for claims officers
ODT, 172 KB
This file is in an OpenDocument format
Scheme guidance notes
Guidance note – Immediate
MS Word Document, 51.2 KB
Guidance note – Substantial Recovery
MS Word Document, 51.3 KB
Guidance note – Medically Recognised Illness
MS Word Document, 50.7 KB
Guidance note- Scarring
MS Word Document, 51.4 KB
Guidance note- Burns
MS Word Document, 51.1 KB
Guidance note- Multiple Fractures to Face
MS Word Document, 177 KB
Guidance note – Physical Abuse of Children
MS Word Document, 127 KB
Guidance note – Female Genital Mutilation and Breast Ironing
MS Word Document, 62 KB
Guidance note – Assessing Care Needs and Costs
MS Word Document, 53.8 KB
Published 5 September 2025 Last updated 2 March 2026 show all updates
1.
2 March 2026
Adding 9 supplementary scheme guidance notes for the terms "immediate", "substantial recovery", "Medically Recognised Illness", and for scarring, burns, multiple fractures to the face, physical abuse of children, female genital mutilation and breast ironing, and assessing care needs and costs,
2.
14 January 2026
Updated to include latest version of scheme policy guidance.
3.
13 January 2026
Update to Scheme guidance for paragraph 85 to reflect changes to the rules around Non-Disclosure Agreements.
Updates to Scheme guidance for paragraphs 4, 18A, 27, 39, 87, 97 and 110 to highlight when claims officers should seek advice from Decision Support.
4.
3 October 2025
Paragraph 5 guidance updated to include reference to emergency workers.
5.
5 September 2025
First published.
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