Calls for urgent overhaul of the scheme governing compensation for victims of crime.

The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to compensate blameless victims of violent crime through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS).

But a number of outdated rules governing this scheme have seen survivors of child sexual abuse refused compensation on grounds they ‘consented’, or even because their abuser was a family member, and victims and survivors of other forms of sexual violence are also routinely disadvantaged by the Scheme.