{"id":515360,"date":"2026-04-06T06:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T06:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/515360\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T06:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T06:02:07","slug":"compensation-for-crime-victims-capped-in-1996-not-enough-say-campaigners-uk-criminal-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/515360\/","title":{"rendered":"Compensation for crime victims capped in 1996 not enough, say campaigners | UK criminal justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 30-year freeze on compensation for victims of crime should be lifted, campaigners have said, adding that the maximum of \u00a3500,000 is insufficient to plan for a lifetime.<\/p>\n

The current highest rate, set in April 1996 by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), is paid to victims of crime in England, Scotland<\/a> and Wales who have suffered severe life-changing injuries, including brain damage and paralysis.<\/p>\n

The money is paid to provide for their care as well as their long-term future, as their injuries often mean they are unable to work.<\/p>\n

However, new figures suggest that had the maximum amount risen in line with inflation, it would stand at \u00a31,015,000, more than double the current limit.<\/p>\n

Those affected, along with lawyers, have raised concerns the money will run out, leaving them without vital support and affecting their broader quality of life.<\/p>\n

Craig Lewis-Williams, 50, from north Wales<\/a>, was left with brain damage after being attacked while walking home in November 2021. It left him unable to walk or swallow and with memory problems.<\/p>\n

He later had a stroke during his treatment, giving him paralysis down his left side, and he is now fed through a tube and has carers visit six times a day.<\/p>\n

His attacker, Adam Chamberlin, from Llay, was given a jail sentence of more than a year after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm (GBH).<\/p>\n

Lewis-Williams, who was a warehouse manager before the assault, received the maximum payout from CICA on appeal. However, his wife, Anna, fears it will not go far enough.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cThings are going to need replacing like his wheelchair and the van, they\u2019re big things to pay out for, which are not what the layman needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to last. He\u2019s just turned 50 and the expected life age of a male is 75 to 80, it\u2019s another 25 to 30 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got your car, you\u2019ve got your family, prices are a lot higher than they were 30 years ago, we\u2019ve got the cost of living crisis and what\u2019s going on in Iran, the money has to last longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nichola, from north-west England<\/a>, has the same fears about her adopted teenage daughter Lou.<\/p>\n

The secondary school pupil has learning difficulties caused by brain damage from her biological mother taking drugs when she was pregnant and giving drugs to her after she was born.<\/p>\n

While Nichola says Lou has \u201cdefied the odds\u201d and attends a mainstream school, she suffers with mental processing difficulties, mood disorders and behavioural conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe assessments are that she will struggle with maintaining a job long-term, probably, with the disciplines and the interpersonal relationships that are involved in it,\u201d Nichola said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s got a significant amount of money and to anybody else that would be seem huge. But it\u2019s got to last her a lifetime and she\u2019s very young, so it might have to last her another 80 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re the kind of person who struggles to hold down a job, you\u2019re not going to have a great deal in your pension when you come to retire,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Neil Sugarman, a lawyer who has worked on criminal injuries and is the former president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (Apil), said the 30th anniversary should be a \u201cwake-up call\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor adults and children who suffer catastrophic brain injury, are confined to a wheelchair or whose lives have been ruined by abuse, the fact that they have to manage with this amount for life through no fault of their own is an insult.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: \u201cOur thoughts are with all victims of violent crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re leaving no stone unturned to make sure brave survivors get the support they deserve, with over \u00a3164m paid out by the taxpayer-funded criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme in 2024-25.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 30-year freeze on compensation for victims of crime should be lifted, campaigners have said, adding that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-515360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}