How To Claim For Domestic Violence

Last Updated On 30th May 2025. If you are looking to claim for domestic violence, this guide will provide information that could be useful to you. We will look at the eligibility criteria to claim through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). The CICA can award compensation to those who have suffered as a result of crimes of violence in England, Scotland, or Wales.

Scales held by Justice statue in front of blurred law books.

In addition, we will look at key information about the claims process. For example, we will touch on the CICA claims time limit and the evidence that you might need to provide when claiming.

Moreover, we will examine how much you could receive in the event of a successful claim. Finally, we will look at the advantages of working with a No Win No Fee solicitor.

Our advisors are also on call at any point to answer questions you may have. To get in touch for free advice:

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When Are You Able To Claim For Domestic Violence?

The CICA is an executive agency that receives government funding and that can compensate those who have been harmed by violent crime. In order to claim through the CICA, you must meet their eligibility criteria. This includes:

  • Being a victim of a crime of violence. The CICA have a definition of a crime of violence in the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012.
  • Reporting the incident to the police. If the incident was not reported, you can’t make a claim for domestic violence through the CICA.
  • The incident took place in England, Scotland, Wales or another place that is deemed relevant according to the CICA.
  • You begin your claim within the allotted time limit which will be explored in more detail later in this guide.

If you would like to find out whether you can seek violent crime compensation, please speak with an advisor from our team.

Is There A CICA Claim Time Limit?

There is generally a two-year time limit that applies to beginning CICA claims. This generally runs from when you reported the incident to the police. This is expected to be done straight away unless you have exceptional circumstances that prevented you from doing so.

Furthermore, a claim should generally be made within 2 years of the report to the police. Similarly, however, if there are exceptional circumstances that prevented a claim from being made within this time, the CICA might be able to consider a claim made outside this time limit.

How To Claim For Domestic Violence

When making a claim for domestic violence, you could gather evidence to make your case more robust. Firstly, you must provide the police reference number that you will receive when reporting the incident, as well as evidence that you meet the residency requirements.

Moreover, you may be asked to provide:

  • Medical evidence of any physical and/or mental injuries that are sustained.
  • Proof of any financial losses that are incurred via a receipt, invoice, pay slip or bank statement.

The CICA will communicate with the police for confirmation on certain factors, such as whether you have cooperated with their investigations or whether you have any criminal convictions that are unspent and, therefore, could impact your claim.

If you have any questions as to how to make a domestic violence claim, please get in touch with an advisor from our team.

How Could You Be Affected By Domestic Violence?

Below, we have included examples of some of the injuries that you might experience if you are a victim of domestic violence:

If you’d like to see whether you could claim for domestic violence through the CICA, speak with a member of our team today. You could be connected with a lawyer from our panel if you do have a valid case.

What Compensation Could You Receive For Criminal Injuries?

The CICA award compensation for domestic violence in line with the tariffs established in the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012. These are set figures.

You can view a few examples of the main tariffs in our table below. However, the first row is not a tariff amount.

Body PartSeverity Tariff Amount
Multiple Injuries and Special ExpensesClaims can compensate for up to 3 injuries from the main tariff, special expenses and loss of earningsUp to £500,000
BrainVery serious £175,000
HandLoss of/Loss of function of £82,000
ArmParalysis/Function loss £44,000
BurnsMultiple areas of the body, covering 25% with significant scarring£33,000
EyeLoss £27,000
Sexual AssaultSevere mental illness£27,000
Ankle Significant £16,500
FingerLoss- partial £16,500
FaceLe Fort 2 & 3 £11,000

When making a claim for domestic violence through the CICA, you should be aware of the multiple injuries formula. This formula applies to injuries from the main tariff only and is as follows:

  • The injury with the highest value will be awarded 100% of that tariff.
  • The second highest valued injury (or one of equal value to the first) will be awarded at 30% of the tariff.
  • And finally, 15% of the tariff will apply to an injury with the third-highest (or equal) value.

However, some injuries are excluded from the main tariff. If the domestic violence resulted in:

  • Pregnancy,
  • Loss of a foetus,
  • Sexually transmitted infection

Then the CICA will award these incidents separately from the main tariff, and they will not be subject to the multiple injuries formula.

Claiming Special Expenses Due To Spousal Abuse

You may also be awarded compensation for special expenses if you incur any specific financial losses as a result of the incident. This could apply to losses such as:

  • Loss of earnings
  • Care costs
  • Medical expenses
  • Home adaptations
  • Any equipment that you rely on as a physical aid, such as a walking stick or a hearing aid, that was broken in the incident

Our advisors can offer you a more personalised estimation as to how much compensation you could be awarded if you get in touch. Furthermore, they may be able to connect you with a No Win No Fee lawyer from our panel.

Do I Have To Instruct A Solicitor To Claim Through The CICA?

No, you do not need to instruct a solicitor to make a claim for domestic violence through the CICA. However, having the support of a solicitor could be beneficial in securing a CICA domestic violence compensation payout.

The solicitors from our panel have decades of collective experience supporting CICA claims and can help with your domestic violence claim. Using their experience and knowledge of criminal injury claims, they can:

  • Ensure that your injuries, special expenses and any lost income is properly accounted for.
  • Assist if the CICA ask you for more information.
  • Provide support with the criminal injuries claims process.
  • Help if you need to appeal the CICA’s decision.

This is just a small selection of the support that one of the specialist criminal injury solicitors from our panel can offer you. Furthermore, our panel offer all of their services on a No Win No Fee basis.

Make A Domestic Violence Claim Using Our Panel Of No Win No Fee Solicitors

As stated above, our panel offer a No Win No Fee service. What this means is that when you instruct a criminal injury solicitor from our panel, they:

  • Won’t ask you to pay for their work upfront.
  • Also won’t take any ongoing payments towards their services while your claim for domestic violence is ongoing.
  • Don’t ask for payment for their work on a claim that has proven unsuccessful.

In fact, you will only have to pay a small, legally limited success fee if your domestic violence claim is successful. This will be taken as a percentage of your compensation before the solicitor sends it on to you. Due to the legislative cap in place, you are legally guaranteed to receive the majority of your compensation.

Speak To Our Team

The first step in starting a CICA claim for domestic violence is to contact one of the advisors from our team. An advisor can assess whether you have a valid domestic violence claim and connect you to one of the solicitors from our panel if you are eligible. But that’s not all they do. One of our advisors can value your potential compensation for domestic violence and ensure that you are claiming for any special expenses that you are entitled to. To find out more about how a specialist criminal injury solicitor from our panel can help you, please speak to an advisor by:

More Information

Here are some more of our own guides that could help you when seeking violent crime compensation:

In addition, we have included a few external resources that might prove useful:

Thank you for reading this guide on how to claim for domestic violence. If you have any questions that still need answering, please get in touch with an advisor from our team.

Article by Pas

Edited by Sto