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The crime must have happened in England, Wales or Scotland. It must be both:

• reported to the police
• a violent crime

You cannot get compensation for an accident. For example, you will not qualify for compensation if you were:

• attacked by a dog and the person controlling the dog did not intend to harm you
• injured by a vehicle during an accident, and the driver did not intend to harm you

When you can claim

In most cases you must apply:

• as soon as reasonably practicable
• within 2 years of the crime happening

You do not need to wait until the police investigation is complete, or until a court case has finished.

You may be able to claim for a crime that happened more than 2 years ago if one or both of the following apply:

• you’re claiming because of childhood sexual or physical abuse
• you could not claim earlier, for example because your mental or physical health stopped you

What you can get compensation for

You can get compensation for:

• physical injuries
• disabling mental injuries
• sexual or physical abuse
• the death of a close relative
• paying for someone’s funeral
• loss of earnings and expenses

Disabling mental injuries

A ‘disabling mental injury’ is something that makes it much harder to do the things you would normally do - for example working, going to college or university, seeing friends or having a relationship. 

Mental injuries must also:

• last for at least 6 weeks 
• be diagnosed by a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist

Loss of earnings and expenses

You might get compensation for loss of earnings, or paid expenses to cover the cost of:

• care, home adaptations or mobility aids
• damage to physical aids, such as dentures, walking sticks or glasses

You usually have to be unable to work or have very limited ability to work for 28 weeks or longer to be eligible.

You will not be paid loss of earnings for the first 28 weeks you were unable to work.

You must have been employed when the crime happened or for the 3 years immediately before it. If you were not employed, you might still be eligible if you could not work, for example because you were in full-time education, retired or caring for someone.

If your injury is not covered by the compensation scheme

You may still be able to get financial support as a victim of crime if you have to take time off low paid work because you’ve been the victim of a violent crime.

Your nationality

You must have been one of the following when the crime happened:

• a British citizen or EU or EEA national (or their close relative)
• a family member of an EU or EEA national who has the right to be in the UK
• a member of the armed forces (or you’re a close relative living in their household)
• a potential victim of human trafficking on or before the date of your application - this must be confirmed by the UK Human Trafficking Centre and UK Visas and Immigration
• an asylum seeker
• a national of a

You’re also eligible if you were ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK at the time of the crime. This depends on your connection to the UK, for example if you were living, working or studying there (or you were the family member of someone who was).