Payouts for victims of sex abuse ‘need to be speeded up’
VICTIMS of sexual abuse should be paid compensation as soon as possible after a court case to help them fund treatment for trauma sooner, a new report has said.
The Civil Justice Council (CJC) called for Criminal Compensation Orders to be used more to cut down on victims of sexual assault and abuse having to face making a subsequent claim in the civil courts.
The court rulings, which order an offender to pay a victim compensation for injury, loss or damage caused by the offence, are rarely made, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures cited by the report.
Some lawyers suggested there was an “apparent reluctance” by judges to use their powers to award compensation, according to the findings.
Just 26 were made in 2017 despite 6,861 defendants being convicted of relevant offences. Of these, eight orders were for £100 or less, the report said.
The CJC said: “Victims of sexual abuse should be awarded compensation at the earliest possible moment, so that it can be used to fund treatment far earlier than will often be the case if he or she is otherwise reliant upon provision by the NHS and statutory services; sometimes leading to a much earlier reduction in symptoms/effects.”
Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham, told the CJC a revised Victims’ Code should detail the right to Criminal Compensation Orders.
“The Government should seek to understand why judges are not issuing Criminal Compensation Orders in child sexual abuse cases and publish its findings,” she said.
The report, which also called for the protection of vulnerable witnesses in civil cases to be improved, made a string of other recommendations including: criminal judges and prosecutors should be trained to make sure compensations orders are used where possible so victims of sexual abuse do not have to face making a subsequent claim in the civil courts; court staff working on civil cases “should be trained in how they handle vulnerable court users as a matter of urgency”; and witnesses should be asked for the outset of proceedings if they are vulnerable and need assistance.