Abused as a child

A woman who was abused as a child wins compensation

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We were contacted by a woman who had been abused as a child by her mother’s partner.

Our client, who we shall call L, had been able to disclose what was happening to her mother. The police and social services were involved, and the abuse ceased.

However, her childhood trauma had a lasting effect on L and she suffered mental health difficulties into her adult life.

She contacted us when she was in her 30s to see if we could help her with an application to the government’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) Scheme.

Elizabeth Duncan, an abuse lawyer who has dealt with a huge number of CICA applications, agreed to help L on a No Win – No Fee basis.

The usual time limit for making a CICA application for events that happen in childhood (where the police were involved while the person was still a child) is two years from the person’s 18th birthday. L was therefore someway outside that time limit. Elizabeth considered her medical records, and was of the view that she would be able to persuade the CICA to extend the time limit due to the exceptional circumstances of her very poor mental health, which meant she could not have applied sooner.

This was not the only difficulty with the case however, as the CICA initially thought L’s mum may have already made an application when L was a child, and they were therefore likely to reject the application as a duplicate.

Elizabeth obtained L’s social services records and spoke to L’s mum about what she had done. Elizabeth was able to persuade the CICA that no previous application had been made. The CICA then made an offer of compensation which L accepted. She is planning to use some of the money to have private therapy, and is hopeful that this will have a positive lasting impact on her life