The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) is an executive agency of the UK Government.

The Authority, established in 1996 and based in Glasgow, administers a compensation scheme for injuries caused to victims of violent crime in England, Scotland and Wales.

However, it has been criticised on occasions for failing to provide adequate compensation to victims of serious crime, particularly people seriously injured as a result of crime, rape victims and the parents of murdered children - most notably the parents of murdered children Sarah Payne, Damilola Taylor, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

CICA employs over 300 civil service staff from the Ministry of Justice in an office in Glasgow to process and decide on applications for compensation from victims of violent crime.

Whether it is a crime of violence is a more complex issue but the most typical examples are assault, murder, rape and sexual abuse.

[6] Residency criteria, introduced for the first time in Paragraphs 10 to 16 of the 2012 Scheme, restrict eligibility to those who are ordinarily resident in the UK, or are one of the following: "(a) a British citizen; (b) a close relative of a British citizen; (c) a national of a member state of the European Union or the European Economic Area; (d) a person who had a right to be in the United Kingdom by virtue of being a family member of a national of a member state of the European Union or the European Economic Area; (e) a national of a State party to the Council of Europe Convention on the Compensation of Victims of Violent Crimes (CETS No.

Compensation may be reduced or withheld altogether from applicants who: - contributed to or caused the incident in which they were injured - failed to co-operate with the police or prosecuting authority - failed to or delayed in reporting the incident to the police - failed to co-operate with the CICA in handling their claim - have one or more unspent criminal convictions It is also possible for decision makers to refuse claims on the basis that the victim still lives with their assailant, or that the assailant may benefit in some way from their award.

The "same-roof rule" was a rule of English law that stated victims of domestic abuse were not entitled to compensation if they lived with the perpetrator prior to October 1979 for example as husband and wife and even if those involved ceased to live together at anytime after.

This rule was retained in all subsequent changes to the law meaning that even after 1979 claimants were unable to claim compensation as a victim of crime.