No cash for victims of 'minor' crimes

More than 20,000 victims of "less serious" violent crime each year are to lose the right to cash compensation payments and will instead be offered practical help, such as personal attack alarms, self defence classes or the number of a local locksmith.

The changes are proposed by Home Office ministers as part of reforms to the £200m-a-year criminal injuries compensation scheme which are intended to boost payments to the most seriously injured victims of violent crime.

Victims' groups last night criticised the decision, saying that even a small payment of state compensation was an important gesture of solidarity.

The reforms will also see the end of state payments to those who are victims of violent crime at work, with employers expected to foot the compensation bill.

However, ministers have decided to exempt payments to relatives of murder victims and to victims of rape and other sex crimes, because in these cases the psychological effects "can linger for many years".

Fiona Mactaggart, the Home Office minister, also confirmed yesterday that the reforms, which need parliamentary approval and are expected to take a year to introduce, will not apply retrospectively to the victims of the July 7 London terrorist attacks.

The Home Office says it intends to lift the £500,000 limit on compensation for the most seriously injured survivors and is consulting on what that new maximum should be. It is also considering whether to increase the £11,000 limit on payments to murder victims' families.

Ms Mactaggart said over 57% of the 40,000 compensation awards made each year were of between £1,000 and £2,000. "We are trying to create a structure that enables people to survive and not spend the whole of the rest of their lives as victims. It is likely that more than half the people who currently get an award will be in the group who will get practical services rather than a compensation cheque."