Call to increase compensation for crime victims for first time in 30 years
A LEADING criminal injuries lawyer is calling on the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to lift the cap on compensation for victims of crime.
Neil Sugarman, who has worked on criminal injuries and is the former president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), said it was a “national disgrace” the current £500,000 cap had not been increased in three decades.
Mr Sugarman criticised the overall performance of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) set up to provide compensation to victims of crime, which he said was becoming slower, more dysfunctional and had left lawyers unable to get answers about cases for months.
Mr Sugarman compared the maximum payouts to other schemes which rose with inflation, including one for armed forces veterans.
Keep your home warm and cosy with this 11-fin electric oil heater.
Its u-type fins create a strong convection channel, heating your room 20% faster, while three power settings and a 5–35oC temperature range let you adjust warmth to your needs. Control is simple via the LED touch screen or included remote, with a 24-hour timer for convenient scheduling. Whisper-quiet operation, overheat and tip-over protection, and rounded corners ensure safe, reliable warmth wherever you use it.
He said next year would mark the 30th anniversary of the maximum award being paid out.
He said: “I’ve got a massive bee in my bonnet about the fact that we’re about to reach the 30th anniversary of the maximum award cap of £500,000.
“The numbers of people under the scheme that would actually qualify for the maximum award, in the overall scheme of things, are was £81.00 relatively low. So it would not cost the Government a great deal of money. I think it’s a national disgrace that it’s never been put up since 1996.
“So if you’re catastrophically injured, shaken baby syndrome, or brain damaged, or confined to a wheelchair as a result of being a victim of crime, and you face the rest of your life like that, £500,000 is literally a drop in the ocean. “EMBARRASSING” failures in the case of Alaa Abd El-Fattah would have been avoided if the Government had acted on its commitments to appoint a special envoy, Dame Emily Thornberry has said.
The chairwoman of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee criticised “serious shortcomings” in information sharing which she said could have been prevented by a dedicated official to carry out background checks.
Former foreign secretary David Lammy said last year that the Government would be introducing an envoy to deal with “complex detention cases” involving Britons abroad, but no such figure has yet been appointed.
In a letter to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Dame Emily said: “Thank you for your letter and for updating me on the troubling failures in due diligence and information sharing in relation to the case of Alaa Abd El Fattah.
“Your recognition of the distress caused to Jewish communities, particularly in the context of rising antisemitism in the UK and internationally, is necessary and welcome.”
She added: “Had an envoy been established following the then-foreign secretary’s commitment in 2024, with access the necessary FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) resources including staffing, it is clear to me that such embarrassing failures of due diligence and information sharing would have been avoided.
“It would have been firmly within the envoy’s remit to carry out appropriate background and social media checks.
“More broadly, the envoy would demonstrate that the arbitrary detention of Brits will never be tolerated, increase the confidence of families of those detained, separate the responsibility from individual embassies, and create opportunities for a whole-ofgovernment approach to these complex cases.
“It’s never been upgraded to take account of inflation. Think how much costs and prices have risen in those 30 years? It’s a huge difference.”
The Ministry of Justice said increasing payments and lifting the cap would undermine the scheme’s “financial sustainability” but said it is hiring more staff and improving how people could contact it.
The compensation authority paid out £164 million in total last year.
Dame Emily Alaa Abd Thornberry El-Fattah
“May I take this opportunity, therefore, to reiterate my committee’s recommendation that such an envoy be appointed as soon as possible.”
Mr Abd El-Fattah was granted UK citizenship in December 2021 under former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson, reportedly through his British-born mother.
His imprisonment for charges of spreading false news was branded a breach of international law by UN investigators and he was pardoned by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in September after years of lobbying by Conservative and Labour governments.
He flew to the UK on Boxing Day and was reunited with his son, who lives in Brighton, after a travel ban was lifted.
Politicians including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer welcomed his return before the resurfacing of tweets dating back to 2010 in which the activist appeared to call for violence against Zionists and the police.
Downing Street has since described the posts as “abhorrent” but said an apology issued by Mr El-Fattah earlier this week was “fairly fulsome”.
The Conservatives and Reform UK have both suggested he should have his British citizenship stripped for the posts, though it is understood there are no current plans for this and the law does not appear to provide grounds to deport him.