Background

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel for Northern Ireland (CICAPNI) is part of a new tariff based system for dealing with claims for compensation introduced from 1 May 2002 by the Northern Ireland Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2002.

The Panel is a non-statutory tribunal with 23 Panel Members, including the Chairman, with its headquarters in Belfast. The Office is administered by NIO and NICtS staff. It is funded by NICtS and operates independently of the Compensation Agency.

The Panel's role is to determine appeals against reviewed decisions made by the Compensation Agency arising from claims for criminal injuries compensation for incidents that occurred on and after 1 May 2002.

Schemes for the payment of compensation to the victims of crimes of violence have been in existence in Northern Ireland for over 30 years. For all incidents happening before 1 May 2002 claims for compensation made to the Compensation Agency are dealt with under either the Criminal Injuries (Compensation) Order (Northern Ireland) 1988, the Criminal Injuries (Compensation) Order (Northern Ireland) 1977 or the Criminal Injuries (Compensation) Order (Northern Ireland) 1968 and payment is made on the basis of common law damages. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Agency will continue to administer the old Schemes in parallel with the new Scheme in order to resolve outstanding claims for compensation made before 1 May 2002. Appeals under the old Schemes will continue to be dealt with by the County Court for the foreseeable future.

The new Scheme makes changes to both the administration and the substance of compensation for criminal injuries. The most significant are that payments, which were formally made on an ex-gratia basis, are now made as of right; a victim's general damages for pain and suffering and loss of amenity have been replaced by a tariff of awards; and the entitlement to and amount of awards are now assessed by claims officers, who are civil servants employed by the Agency. The rules as to eligibility for an award generally remain unaltered.