Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme Changes
IICSA · The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse · Issued 20 October 2022 · Addressed to: UK Government
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, K.8
The Inquiry recommends that the UK government changes the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme to: include other forms of child sexual abuse, including online-facilitated sexual abuse; amend the rule on unspent convictions so that applicants with unspent convictions are not automatically excluded where offences are likely to be linked to the circumstances of their sexual abuse as a child; and increase the time limit for child sexual abuse applications so that applicants have seven years to apply from (a) the date the offence was reported to the police or (b) the age of 18, where the offence was reported whilst the victim was a child. In either circumstance, the claims officer's discretion to extend the time limit remains.
IICSA, The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse · 20 Oct 2022 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- No published amendment to the CICS specifically including online-facilitated sexual abuse or amending time limits for CSA cases has been identified to March 2026.
Response — verbatim from government
●UK Government
We accept the need to consider changes to the scheme, and we will consult on whether or not to amend the scope and time limits.
UK Government · 22 May 2023 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 8 Apr 2025 Raising awareness of existing discretionary extensions to Criminal Injuries Compensation scheme time limits; improving CICA staff training on handling CSA cases sensitively. Source →
- 21 Jan 2025 · Home Affairs Select Committee Professor Alexis Jay told Home Affairs Committee that £187m was spent on IICSA and "to date none of its final recommendations had been implemented." Called for "full implementation" saying "get it done." View source → No Meaningful 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.