No Win No Fee Criminal Injury Compensation Claims

We are specialist personal injury solicitors offering legal services to the victims of violent crime in the UK. We deal with applications to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) using the no win no fee scheme and will not charge you if the application is refused. You do not have to pay for any expenses incurred as the claim proceeds. The basis of our no win no fee scheme is to make a CICA application totally risk free for the claimant.

The term ‘no win no fee’ is much mis-understood. If the application is not successful there is no fee to pay however the corollary is also true and in the event of a successful claim, with money awarded to the applicant, then a fee is payable. Many people understand ‘no win no fee’ to mean that no legal charges are made in any circumstances however that is simply not the case.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority will make an award for the injury based on the Tariff Scheme however the CICA does not make a separate award for the legal fees. In the event of the application being successful and an award of compensation is received from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, we will charge you 25% plus vat of the amount of the award for our legal fees plus any authorised disbursements. (The entire risk of a no win no fee compensation application to the CICA is carried by our solicitors who must ‘write off’ potential legal charges if the application is refused. So far as the applicant is concerned our no win no fee CICA claims are completely risk free.)

Included in our no win no fee scheme we will make representations for review of any unsatisfactory decisions and following a final award or refusal, in appropriate cases, make application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeal Panel. No matter what happens and notwithstanding the amount of work that we carry out on your behalf, you will never pay more than 25% plus vat of the amount of the award for our legal fees plus any authorised disbursements.

Our no win no fee claims are started by interviewing you in depth and obtaining full details of any supporting evidence that may be in your possession. We then complete a Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority application form on your behalf and submit the completed form to the London or Glasgow office together with any relevant supporting evidence. In due course the CICA acknowledges the claim, assigns a reference and launches an inquiry with the medical authorities and the police. The claimant may then be asked to submit further evidence. If the claimant obtains and submits unsolicited evidence, the CICA is required to consider it however they are not obligated to pay for such evidence. The decision will be made by the CICA once all the evidence has been submitted and considered. The claimant is notified of the decision in writing, with the option of requesting a review or a subsequent appeal. Most of the time, claims are rejected due to failure to fully cooperate during the investigation, because of ‘unspent’ criminal convictions and behaviour deemed unacceptable prior to, during or after the incident.