Compensation Amounts and Caps
HIA Inquiry · Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry · Issued 20 January 2017 · Addressed to: Northern Ireland Executive
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
We recommend that the amount of compensation should therefore consist of one or more of the following elements. (i) A standard payment of £7,500 payable to anyone who was abused, including those who experienced a harsh environment, or who witnessed such abuse. (ii) An additional payment of £20,000 in respect of a person sent to Australia under the Child Migrants Scheme. (iii) An additional enhanced payment to anyone who was more severely abused. The maximum amount of compensation payable in respect of (i) and (iii) should not exceed £80,000, and the maximum payment in respect of (i), (ii) and (iii) should not exceed £100,000.
HIA Inquiry, Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry · 20 Jan 2017 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The HIA Redress Board has been making payments in accordance with the statutory structure since March 2020 (HIA Redress Board).
Response — verbatim from government
●Northern Ireland Executive
No formal government response published.
Northern Ireland Executive · 5 Nov 2019 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 5 Nov 2019 The specific compensation amounts and caps were provided for in the Historical Institutional Abuse (Northern Ireland) Act 2019, including a standard payment of £7,500, an additional payment of £20,000 for child migrants, and an enhanced payment up to a maximum of £100,000. Source →
- 1 Jan 2025 · The Executive Office (NI) Ongoing funding commitment to Child Migrants Trust, including through the HIA Redress Board which provides a specific £20,000 payment for persons sent to Australia under the Child Migrant Programme. View source → Reasonable Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.