Introduction
1. For more than thirty years compensation has been
payable in Northern Ireland to the victims of crimes of violence,
including terrorism, where a number of conditions are met. 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.
2. This report is an examination of the efficiency
and effectiveness of the administration and expenditure of the
Compensation Agency. We also looked at the role of the Compensation
Agency in:
- supporting the victims of violent
crime by providing compensation for serious injuries and financial
loss;
- sustaining the confidence of
the community by providing compensation for physical damage and
consequential loss arising from criminal damage to property; and
- providing compensation to those
who suffer loss from action taken under the Terrorism Act 2000.
3. We announced our inquiry into the Compensation
Agency in July 2003 and took oral evidence in January 2004. We
visited the offices of the Compensation Agency on 4 November 2003
to familiarise ourselves with the work of the Agency. We would
like to thank Ms McCleary, the Chief Executive, and her staff
for their time and effort in making this visit a success. We would
also like to thank those who provided written or oral evidence
for this inquiry.
4. The timing of the inquiry was particularly appropriate
as the Agency had "embarked upon a major programme of change,
both to its organisational structure and to the way it conducts
its core business of processing claims for compensation".[1]
5. The compensation schemes administered by the Agency
fall into three categories.
- Compensation for serious injury
or financial loss for the victims of violent crime, including
terrorist crime—the 1988 Order Criminal Injuries Compensation
Scheme and the subsequent Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme
2002 (known as the 'Tariff Scheme');
- Compensation for physical damage
and consequential loss arising from criminal damage to property—the
Criminal Damage Compensation Scheme; and
- Compensation to those who suffer
loss as a result of action taken under the terrorism legislation,
such as damage to property as a result of military patrolling—the
Terrorism Act 2000 Compensation Scheme.
Last year the Agency paid out nearly £36 million
in compensation under these schemes.[2]
6. The staff complement of the Agency has fluctuated
between 127 and 146 over the past couple of years. The majority
of these are administrative grade civil servants together with
a number of in-house lawyers and an accountant.[3]
Additional staff were brought in to deal with the introduction
of the Tariff Scheme in 2002 but numbers have subsequently dropped
as the volume of claims reduces. The Agency is currently undertaking
an internal review of its staffing needs.[4]
7. In the remainder of this report we consider separately
each of the compensation schemes operated by the Agency.
1 Compensation Agency Annual Report 2002-03 Back
2
Ev 26 Annex E (amended) Back
3
Ev 13 para 6.4 Back
4
QQ52-55 Back
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