| The Compensation Agency was set up in April 1992 to administer compensation schemes that support the victims of terrorism and other violent crime, and those who suffer loss as a result of action under the emergency provisions legislation. Last year the Agency had a staff complement of around 140 and paid out nearly £36 million in compensation.
The introduction of the Tariff Scheme in 2002 (the new Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme), which established set compensation award levels for various injury types, posed considerable challenges for the Agency. Initial teething problems have generally been resolved and the number of decisions taken by the Agency is now starting to exceed the number of claims being received. The Agency has also made considerable inroads into a backlog of claims outstanding under the old scheme.
Abuse of the scheme to pay compensation for damage to property caused by security forces in the course of their operations has probably cost the taxpayer in excess of £5 million over a two year period. We welcome the robust action by the Compensation Agency which has recently seen the average number of claims drop from 633 per month to 67 per month.
A number of factors will have a significant impact on the future work of the Agency. These include:
- the improving security situation in Northern Ireland and the welcome absence of large-scale town centre explosions;
- the resulting reduced number of claims for criminal injuries compensation under the Tariff Scheme and the greater use of IT to process claims faster;
- the greatly reduced operational deployment of the Army and the dramatic reduction in claims for compensation under the Terrorism Act 2000; and
- the levelling-off of claims for criminal damage.
The future role and structure of the Agency need to be kept under review. The planned review of the Criminal Damage Compensation Scheme and the current review of the staffing complement are steps in the right direction.
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