From this date, the vast majority of innocent victims of violent
crime will discover they are either no longer eligible for any
compensation or that the amount they could receive for their
injuries has been slashed.
On Monday evening, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs
controversially approved the revised Scheme, which will cut or axe
altogether the financial support given to nearly 90% of the victims
of violent crime. The Scheme currently awards compensation to
between 30,000 and 40,000 people each year who are seriously
injured following a crime of violence and who cannot obtain
recompense from any other source, such as their assailant.
Despite opposition from Usdaw, the Labour Party and a range of
other organisations who condemned the changes as 'ill conceived,
unnecessary and callous', MPs voted by 275 votes to 231 to approve
the cuts.
Today's announcement means that innocent victims of violent
crime have until 23.59 on Monday 26 November to submit a claim that
will be considered under the existing scheme. After this date,
claims for any incident, whether it occurred before or after
midnight on 26 November will be processed under the new and
drastically reduced scheme.
The shopworkers' Union Usdaw has campaigned hard against the
cuts on behalf of the many retail staff injured every year in armed
robberies and assaults at work, most of who will now find they are
no longer eligible for any financial support. Usdaw has also
condemned the manner in which the Tory-led Coalition forced through
the cuts and called on the Government to do more to alert victims
to the impending changes.
John Hannett, Usdaw General Secretary said:
"The decision of Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs to
support these cuts means that many injured victims of crime are
going to suffer financially as well as physically. None of the MPs
who supported the cuts should ever again have the gall to say they
put victims of crime first.
"The entire process of making the cuts has been a shameful and
frankly grubby episode in the exercise of government, one made all
the more shocking because it's innocent victims of violent crime
who are going to suffer.
"The Government should do much more to make victims aware of the
changes, but I suspect its silence reflects the weakness of its own
case for the cuts and the inherent embarrassment of highlighting
them.
"Usdaw urges anyone who has been injured in the course of a
crime to submit an application to the Criminal Injuries
Compensation Authority as soon as possible and by 26 November at
the latest."
Notes for Editors:
-
View a copy of the email circulated today by the Criminal
Injuries Compensation Authority.
- On Monday evening, Labour forced a vote on the Statutory
Instrument used to implement the cuts to the Criminal Injuries
Compensation Scheme. The record of how MPs voted on Monday evening
can be found at:
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm121112/debtext/121112-0004.htm#1211132000005
- Cuts to the scheme were originally objected to by both Labour
and Conservative MPs when they were considered by a Parliamentary
committee on 10 September. Despite being withdrawn by the
Government with the promise of a 'rethink', the very same proposals
were subsequently re-tabled and backed 9 votes to 7 by Coalition
MPs on 1 November. At the time, Usdaw and others accused the
Government of stacking this committee with its payroll vote to
ensure the cuts were approved second time around. Usdaw said that
instead of a 'rethink', the Government had simply "changed the
committee rather than the scheme." On 7 November, a Labour motion
calling on the Government to reconsider the cuts was defeated by
289 votes to 209. This remains the only time all MPs had a chance
to debate the cuts and the impact they will have on innocent
victims of violent crime.
- The cuts will mean that victims of violent crime who suffer
injuries such as permanent speech impairment, multiple broken ribs,
post traumatic epileptic fits or burns and scarring that cause
minor facial disfigurement, will no longer be eligible for any
compensation. Victims who suffer injuries such as significant
facial scarring, punctured or collapsed lungs, permanent brain
injury resulting in impaired balance and headaches, fractured
joints including elbows, knees and vertebra, resulting in continual
significant disability, will have any compensation reduced by up to
60%. New conditions for payments for loss of earnings will limit
payments to the level of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), currently just
£85 a week. In addition, payments will also be limited to those who
are never able to work again, or only in a severely reduced
capacity. Compensation for loss of earnings will also be denied to
any victims with a broken work record during the previous 3
years.
- For further information on the cuts to the Criminal Injuries
Compensation Scheme and Usdaw's campaign against them please visit
www.usdaw.org.uk/compensation
- Usdaw (the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is
the UK's fourth biggest and fastest growing trade union with over
420,000 members. Membership has increased by more than 17% in the
last five years and by nearly a third in the last decade. Most
Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has
many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing,
chemicals and other trades.