Inform the Police
Very often the offender may be known to the victim. In assault cases, to make an assault compensation claim, the police must be informed and may prosecute the person responsible. Following an assault, you should inform the police within 24 hours if possible. However, the person who committed the assault does not have to be identified, caught or convicted for you to successfully make an assault compensation. You must be prepared to fully co-operate with the police, whether or not the assault offender is caught. In the event of the police identifying the offender you must be prepared to prosecute if required.
Fatal criminal compensation
We can also claim assault compensation through the CICA for Fatal Criminal Compensation, if someone has died as a result of an assault or violent crime.
Assault claim timescale
There is a usual timescale of two years from the date of assault for an assault claim to be made. In certain circumstances, such as child abuse or elderly abuse, time scales may be waived. Following an assault you will need to seek medical attention for your injuries, if you wish to make an assault injury claim. Then talk to us about the circumstances surrounding the attack to find out if you can claim assault compensation.
Make your claim
When someone has been assaulted, the trauma they will go through over the coming days, weeks, months or even years can take its toll. In some serious circumstances the assault could change a person's character, making them nervous or afraid to face the outside world, in fear it may happen again. It is only right therefore, that as a victim you should be able to make a criminal injury claim for assault compensation and be compensated for this trauma. It's important that the people you trust with your assault claim for compensation are understanding of the situation and can be relied upon to progress the claim with the minimum fuss, but to also work hard to win your case for you.
Criminal injury claims work in a different way to standard accident claims on a No Win No Fee basis, with the acting solicitor unable recover their fees from the CICA. Due to this your solicitor will usually deduct up to 25% of the assault damages awarded to you. This is a common percentage rate deduction, for assault cases, worked on by solicitors. If you lose, you will pay absolutely nothing! You will, as with other accident claims, have the peace of mind knowing your claim will be handled by a criminal injury claims specialist solicitor on a No Win No Fee and therefore a no risk basis.
Whatever the cause of your assault, please contact our friendly staff today. We will discuss your case circumstances with you, assess your claim and advise you accordingly. You can use our quick contact form to the left, call us or alternatively use our claims form by clicking here: Criminal Injury Claims.
Do You Need to Make an Assault Claim?
It's unfortunate, but a fact of life, that innocent people are sometimes attacked in assaults leaving them with physical or psychological injuries.
If this has happened to you, you may be entitled to make a criminal injury claim.
Making an Assault Claim
If you are assaulted or attacked in the UK, there are three ways of making a criminal injury claim for compensation for your injury.
The first is to make an assault claim against the assailant directly; but, even if you make a successful criminal injury claim this way, your attacker may not be able to pay any compensation awarded.
If the attack or assault took place at work, the second way to make a criminal injury claim is against your employer. This applies if you feel your employer exposed you to an unnecessary and foreseeable risk which could have been avoided.
The third, most common route to take to make your assault claim is to seek criminal injury claim compensation through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), which pays injury compensation to victims of assaults which have taken place in the UK.
As well as being the direct victim of a physical assault, you may have been hurt indirectly, for example, by an assailant fleeing the scene of a crime. Whether your injury was intentional or accidental is irrelevant in terms of your criminal injury claim as long as those injuries resulted from a crime within the UK. (You cannot make an assault claim for offences which took place outside this country.)
There are a couple of other things you should know if you are making an assault claim. Firstly, it's very important to tell the police about the attack, within 24 hours of it occurring if possible. You should be prepared to co-operate with them fully.
Secondly, you generally need to make your assault claim within two years of the date of the attack. (Although in some cases, such as abuse of a child or an older person, these time scales may be waived.)
While you may wish to put the trauma of an assault behind you, a criminal injury claim can get you the compensation you deserve. But it is crucial that you trust whoever is dealing with your assault claim.
At the Accident Advice Bureau, we will deal with your criminal injury claim efficiently and with sensitivity and professionalism. We fully understand just how traumatic the aftermath of an attack, and the whole business of making an assault claim can be. After all, we have 10 years' experience of handling these claims.
A criminal injury claim specialist will work on your case. An assault claim works in a different way to standard accident claims. Because the acting solicitor cannot recover their fees from the CICA, he or she will usually deduct up to 25% of the assault claim damages you receive. This is a standard deduction by solicitors in criminal injury claim cases. However, the No Win No Fee principle still applies in that if you lose, you pay nothing,
So get in touch with our friendly, sympathetic staff today. Give us a call or visit the Accident Advice Bureau's easy-to-follow web site. It could be the best step you take towards putting the distress of an assault completely behind you.
