DENYING ACCESS TO JUSTICE

LEGAL RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2012 :: RMTnews 27 R MT members who are injured in the course of their duties as a result of a criminal act will be restricted in the types of injuries they can claim compensation for through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS), if reforms being pushed by justice secretary Kenneth Clarke become law. The Ministry of Justice consultation Getting it right for victims and witnesses, which Mr Clarke claims is intended to give victims of crime more support, is actually going to ensure less support. It proposes that offences connected with trespass on the railway, including suicide or attempted suicide, be removed from the scheme. Many other types of injuries will no longer qualify for compensation and others will see much lower awards. The consultation proposes removing injuries that are in the lowest bands of the scheme – bands 1 to 5. These carry the tariff of £1,000 to £2,000 and include temporary anxiety, temporary partial deafness, some types of fractures and injuries to teeth. Injuries in bands 6 to 12 which attract between £2,500 to just below £11,000 will be reduced in value. So eye injuries, scarring to the limbs and torso and other injuries will be reduced from £2,500 to £1,000. Moderate injuries resulting in continuing significant disability such as a fractured collar bone will be reduced from £4,400 to £2,400. Temporary anxiety is the injury that most train drivers who witness suicides suffer and claim compensation for. The other types of injuries in the bands to be removed or reduced are typically the kind that rail workers, bus drivers and other members who deal with the public and are the victim of assaults at work might suffer. Removing these bands would therefore make many members in this position ineligible to apply to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) for an award, even if offences connected with trespass on the railway were not excluded. The government’s justification for removing railway offences from the scheme is that suicide is not a criminal act. It was established in the 1980s that those killing themselves in front of a train were committing a crime of violence. Even though the House of Lords was not convinced that suicide was within the CICS, the government was persuaded that railway workers should be able to claim compensation for the trauma of seeing someone commit suicide by jumping in front of a train or from having to deal with the aftermath of the suicide. It was accepted in 1990 that the best way to compensate those who suffered was to allow payments to be made under the CICS. Although the Labour government also proposed, in 2004, to remove railway suicides from the scheme, it agreed not to after a strong campaign by railway unions. Further restrictions to eligibility include that there will be no award if the incident was not reported to the police as soon as reasonably practicable, if the victim has an unspent conviction (even a minor motoring conviction) and if they have lived in the UK for less than six months. The current scheme allows incidents to be reported to a body other than the police, such as the employer. This is often more appropriate when someone has been assaulted in their workplace, and many drivers report suicides in this way. Changing this rule is likely to deter some victims from claiming. The proposals are being dressed up as supporting victims of crime, when in fact they are a kick in the teeth for victims of crime including those injured in the course of their work. As a money-saving measure they offer little. Far from giving more support to victims of crime, this is another cynical move by this government to deny access to justice to vulnerable and hard-working people. Jeeva Sethu of Thompsons Solicitors looks at the latest government attack on the rights of workers who are the victims of crime at work. DENYING ACCESS TO JUSTICE