Welcome to our guide explaining sexual abuse claims. If you’ve been sexually abused, assaulted or raped, it’s possible you could claim compensation for your injuries. This could include compensation for psychiatric damage, such as mental health issues.
Sexual abuse claims guide
If you’re aware of who the perpetrator is, you could claim compensation directly from them in a personal injury claim. However, this is only possible if they have the funds to pay you. If this is not the case, however, there are still ways you could claim compensation.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) is a government-sponsored executive agency that aims to compensate victims of violent crime. If you’ve been the victim of sexual abuse, it’s possible you could apply to the CICA for compensation.
Continue reading to find out more about claims for harm caused by sexual abuse. We would like to note here that some of the sections in this article could be distressing if you have suffered psychological trauma. If you would prefer to speak to someone directly about your sexual abuse claim, you can use the phone number at the top of this page to get in touch with our advisors.
Our advisors could pass you on to a solicitor from our panel if they think your claim has a good chance of success. Our lawyers are experienced with these kinds of claims and can sensitively handle your case.
Choose A Section
- Can I Claim For Sexual Abuse?
- Receiving Support Through Sexual Abuse Claims
- Can Sexual Abuse Victims Get Compensation?
- Calculating The Value Of Sexual Abuse Claims
- What Are The Advantages Of Filing No Win No Fee Sexual Abuse Claims?
- Additional Information On Claiming Compensation For Historical Abuse
Can I Claim For Sexual Abuse?
If someone has sexually abused you, historically or recently, you could potentially claim compensation for any harm. The Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) is an independent body that prosecutes criminal cases in England and Wales. Their definition of child sexual abuse is an adult inciting or forcing a person under the age of 18 to engage in sexual activities. This could be committed by men, women and other children and could include:
- Rape
- Oral sex
- Masturbation
- Kissing
- Forcing a child to look at sexual images or pornography
- Grooming in preparation for abuse
- Forcing a child to engage in sexual acts with someone else
- Making a child watch pornography
Sexual abuse is different to sexual assault and rape, which are defined by the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Under this Act, rape is any penetrative non-consensual sexual act to the vagina, mouth or anus with a penis. The Act defines sexual assault more broadly as sexual, intentional and non-consensual touching of a person by another.
If you wish to apply to the CICA for compensation, you must have first made a police report to do so. This police report should be made as soon as possible- this is usually immediately after the incident, but your claim may still be considered if exceptional circumstances prevented this.
Contact our advisors today for confidential legal advice to find out more about the sexual abuse claims process.
Official Statistics About Sexual Abuse
The Office for National Statistics collects data on various crimes in England and Wales. This includes child sexual abuse, where the data is gathered in collaboration with the Department for Education, the Home Office, the National Association for People Abuse in Childhood, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), the National Crime Agency and the Welsh Government.
From these statistics, we can see that in the year ending in March 2019, the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated 3.1 million people aged between 18-74 years old experienced sexual abuse before the age of 16. This includes abuse by child and adult perpetrators.
These statistics also showed that a friend or acquaintance committed 37% of the abuse that occurred. This was the most common occurrence. 30% of occurrences included sexual abuse by a stranger.
Altogether, 73,260 sexual offences against children were reported by the police in England and Wales during this period.
If you would like more information on how we can help in sexual abuse claims, speak with a member of our team today.
Receiving Support Through Sexual Abuse Claims
After being sexually abused, assaulted or raped, it’s possible you could suffer some psychological trauma due to what has happened to you. Various charities work to support victims of sexual abuse with emotional rehabilitation.
Some examples of these organisations include:
- Refuge UK – This charity works to support victims of violence and abuse, including sexual abuse. They can provide child support workers, emergency accommodation and culturally-specific services.
- Survivors UK – This charity works to raise awareness of sexual abuse happening to boys, men and non-binary people. They also have services to support non-binary people and males aged 13+ who have experienced sexual violence.
- Victim Support – An independent charity for victims of crime and traumatic incidents in England and Wales.
- The Survivors Trust – An umbrella agency for specialist sexual abuse and rape support services in the UK, working with victims of all ages and genders.
- Rape Crisis – A feminist organisation that aims to raise awareness of sexual violence and abuse. They also have Rape Crisis Centres to support victims across England and Wales.
To find out more about the process of making sexual abuse claims, call us now.
Can Sexual Abuse Victims Get Compensation?
If you want to make a personal injury claim against the perpetrator directly, your compensation could potentially consist of general damages and special damages. General damages are the compensation you receive for the pain and suffering caused by the incident. Special damages aim to reimburse you for any specific financial losses.
However, you can only make this type of claim if you know who the perpetrator is and they have the funds to compensate you.
To make a claim in this way, you generally need to start a claim within 3 years of the date of the incident. However, there are a few exceptions to this.
It is important to note here that both adults with diminished mental capacity and children are not able to represent themselves in a claim. A litigation friend can pursue a claim on their behalf. This can be any responsible adult appointed by the court to make decisions for the claimant.
For children, a claim can be started at any time until they turn 18. Once they turn 18, they then have 3 years to start a claim themselves.
For adults with diminished mental capacity, the time limitation is suspended indefinitely and a litigation friend can claim at any point. This is unless they recover their mental faculties, at which point they have 3 years in which to start their claim.
Call us today to learn more about the time limitations that apply to starting sexual abuse claims.
Claiming Through The CICA
Making a claim through the CICA is something you can do if you’re not able to claim directly against the person who abused you. To be eligible to claim through the CICA, you need to have reported the crime to the police. There are also time limitations that apply to making a CICA claim.
You must usually start an application within 2 years of the incident. However, if exceptional circumstances prevented you from doing so, the CICA may still consider a claim made outside of this time period.
If you were a child when the abuse happened, your parents can claim on your behalf provided that the incident is reported to the police. If they don’t, then you have 2 years to make a claim yourself once you’ve reported it to the police once you turn 18.
There are a variety of payments you could apply to claim through the CICA. This could include:
- Special expenses
- Loss of earnings
- Injury payments
To learn more about how sexual abuse claims can be made through the CICA, get in touch with our team of advisors today.
Calculating The Value Of Sexual Abuse Claims
This section looks in more detail about how you could be compensated through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. There is a tariff of injuries in this scheme that are set compensation amounts that you could receive in a CICA claim.
Victim Type of Offence Severity Compensation Notes
Victim of any age Sexual Assault Minor £1,000 Physical and sexual non-penetrative acts under the clothing.
Victim of any age Sexual Assault A pattern of frequent and repetitive abuse £6,600 Over a period of up to 3 years. This could be by one or more perpetrators.
Victim of any age Sexual Assault Severe mental illness £27,000 Sexual assault resulting in permanently disabling mental illness. This would be confirmed by psychiatric prognosis.
Victim of any age Non-Consensual Penile Penetration or One or More of Anus, Mouth or Vagina Moderate mental illness £22,000 The offence resulted in a permanently disabling mental illness. This would be confirmed by psychiatric prognosis.
Victim is a child or an adult with diminished mental capacity Sexual Assault One or more oral genital or non-penile penetrative acts £8,200 A pattern of frequent and repetitive incidents over a period of 3 years or longer.
Victim is a child or an adult with diminished mental capacity Sexual Assault Serious £3,300 A repetitive pattern of non-penetrative physical and sexual acts under the clothing.
Victim is a child or an adult with diminished mental capacity Sexual Assault Two or more oral genital or non-penile penetrative acts £4,400 Two or more isolated incidents of the listed offence.
Victim is a child or an adult with diminished mental capacity Non-Consensual Penile Penetration or One or More of Anus, Mouth or Vagina Pattern of repetitive, frequent incidents £22,000 There will be serious internal injuries.
Victim is a child or an adult with diminished mental capacity Non-Consensual Penile Penetration or One or More of Anus, Mouth or Vagina One incident £11,000 One incident of this type of offence.
Victim is a child or an adult with diminished mental capacity Non-Consensual Penile Penetration or One or More of Anus, Mouth or Vagina Repeated incidents £22,000 Repeated incidents for 3 years or longer.
Special expenses could also be claimed via the CICA. This is similar to special damages in a personal injury claim in that you can claim back the costs of specific financial losses. This can only include expenses that the court finds to be reasonable, necessary and directly associated with the sexual abuse.
You can only claim special expenses after 28 full weeks of being unable to work, but you can claim for costs starting from the date of the incident.
However, loss of earnings payments are slightly different, as they cannot be backdated. The CICA will only compensate you for the 29th week onwards of being unable to earn, and they will pay it at a Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rate.
Call the number at the top of this page today to find out more about how these payments could work.
What Are The Advantages Of Filing No Win No Fee Sexual Abuse Claims?
You may be wondering what your options are for funding solicitors work in sexual abuse claims. You should know that the solicitors on our panel offer their services on a No Win No Fee basis.
If you’re offered a No Win No Fee agreement, your solicitor will only take payment in the form of a success fee in the event that your claim succeeds.
If your claim does not succeed, your No Win No Fee solicitor will not receive payment for their services. They also won’t ask you for any upfront or ongoing fees. This could be beneficial if you have already struggled financially as a result of what has happened to you.
Get In Touch To Learn More About Sexual Abuse Claims
Hopefully, after this article, you feel you understand more about how sexual abuse claims work. The solicitors on our panel have years of experience and could help you make a claim today.
To make you more comfortable, it’s also possible to make requests before speaking to a solicitor. For example, you may wish to hire specifically a female solicitor. We want to make sure that you feel as safe and secure as possible when claiming with us.
Ring the number at the top of the page for free legal advice about your case. Our team of advisors could also pass you on to a solicitor from our panel.
Additional Information On Claiming Compensation For Historical Abuse
Thank you for reading our guide about sexual abuse claims. We hope it answered any questions you may have had. For additional information, please see below.
Report a Rape or Sexual Assault – This Government guide explains how you could report a rape or sexual assault.
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse and Keeping Children Safe – The NSPCC’s guide to how to prevent or report child sexual abuse.
Safeguarding Against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in the Aid Sector – A government guide on reducing sexual abuse and exploitation in the aid sector.
You can also check out some more of our other guides below:
