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<p><del class="ministerial">The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) received
533 complaints about their service in the financial year 2015-16. This represents
1.3% of CICA’s live caseload. 49% of complaints were closed within 10 days.</del></p><p>
</p><p><del class="ministerial">Where complaints took longer to close this was due
to the number of enquiries required to fully investigate the complaint. In other cases,
CICA were asked by the complainer not to close the complaint until a final decision
was issued on the claim. The average time CICA took to deal with those complaints
was 23.75 days.</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">The most common complaint
received by CICA related to delays in finalising claims. CICA aims to make compensation
payments as quickly as possible, however, they have a duty to the taxpayer to fully
investigate claims to make sure that the applicant gets the level of compensation
they deserve.</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">The 10 most common reasons
for complaining about CICA’s service in 2015/16 were:</del></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial"><strong>Reason given for complaint</strong></del></p></td><td><p><del
class="ministerial"><strong>Percentage of overall complaints</strong></del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial">Delays</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">68.95%</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial">Lack of updates on case progression</del></p></td><td><p><del
class="ministerial">11.33%</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Claim
handling</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">9.77%</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial">Failure to respond to letters</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">4.10%</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial">Applicant provided with conflicting information</del></p></td><td><p><del
class="ministerial">2.93%</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Failure
to provide timescales</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">1.76%</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial">Failure to return phone calls</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">0.59%</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial">Errors when recording telephone application information</del></p></td><td><p><del
class="ministerial">0.20%</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Impolite
staff member</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">0.20%</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial">Poor customer service</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">0.20%</del></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p><del class="ministerial">The total number of complaints the CICA received in
each of the last five years, including those cases (a) escalated to stage 2 and (b)
progressed to stage 3, are as follows:</del></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>Year</strong></del></p></td><td><p><del
class="ministerial"><strong>Complaints received</strong></del></p></td><td><p><del
class="ministerial"><strong>Escalated to Stage 2</strong></del></p></td><td><p><del
class="ministerial"><strong>Escalated to Stage 3</strong></del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial">2016-17</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">1122</del></p></td><td><p><del
class="ministerial">120</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">7</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial">2015-16</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">533</del></p></td><td><p><del
class="ministerial">39</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">6</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial">2014-15</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">491</del></p></td><td><p><del
class="ministerial">26</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">9</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial">2013-14</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">204</del></p></td><td><p><del
class="ministerial">8</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">1</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del
class="ministerial">2012-13</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">284</del></p></td><td><p><del
class="ministerial">10</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">5</del></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p><del class="ministerial">Over half of complaints received in 2016/17 were from
paid representatives. A significant portion of these were from firms of solicitors
who lodged block complaints for their CICA caseload with a view to influencing the
speed of the decision making process.</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">During
the course of 2016/17 the CICA revised their operating model and increased staff numbers
following an extensive recruitment exercise. They have also recently introduced measures
that develop and streamline digital processes, which have reduced the claim processing
time by 30 days. The new online service, which will be introduced later this financial
year, will allow applicants and their representatives to view the progress of their
case online. It is expected that these measures will reduce the time taken to finalise
claims and lead to a reduction in complaints.</del></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) publishes data about the reasons claims
are rejected in its annual reports at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=criminal-injuries-compensation-authority&publication_type=corporate-reports"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=criminal-injuries-compensation-authority&publication_type=corporate-reports</a></ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The figures published in
the annual reports show the number of times each rejection reason was used. For some
applications there may have been more than one reason for rejection. This means that
the total number of reasons for rejection is higher than the actual number of claims
refused. The accurate total of rejected claims for the years specified is as follows:</ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial"> </ins></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Financial
year</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Rejected cases</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins
class="ministerial">2012/13</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">24,411</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins
class="ministerial">2013/14</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">23,803</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins
class="ministerial">2014/15</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">20,066</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins
class="ministerial">2015/16</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">15,243</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins
class="ministerial">2016/17</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">12,411</ins></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><ins
class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Information about the time
CICA has taken to reach decisions on claims over the past few years can also be found
in its annual reports (see link above).</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">The number of full time equivalent staff employed in CICA as at
31 March 2017 was 291.2. The table below shows the number of staff CICA has employed
in managerial positions over the past 5 years:</ins></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><ins
class="ministerial">Date</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Band D (first
line manager) to Senior Civil Service (SCS)</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Band
B (senior manager) to SCS only</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">March
2017</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">156 (plus 2 on temporary promotion)</ins></p></td><td><p><ins
class="ministerial">24</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">March
2016</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">112 (plus 7 on temporary promotion)</ins></p></td><td><p><ins
class="ministerial">16</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">March
2015</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">132 (plus 14 on temporary promotion)</ins></p></td><td><p><ins
class="ministerial">24 (plus 1 on temporary promotion)</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins
class="ministerial">March 2014</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">136 (plus
15 on temporary promotion)</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">24 (plus
5 on temporary promotion)</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">March
2013</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">145 (plus 19 on temporary promotion)</ins></p></td><td><p><ins
class="ministerial">24 (plus 9 on temporary promotion)</ins></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><ins
class="ministerial">Complaints in CICA are registered by two staff within the Corporate
Services team and then allocated to the relevant team to deal with the complaint in
line with CICA’s complaints process. CICA teams have staff members assigned to the
role of complaints champion in addition to their day to day duties. The number of
complaints champions fluctuates depending on demand and staff movement. Complaints
champions are responsible for handling complaints and team managers oversee the complaints
process in each of their respective areas. This group regularly meets to look at improvements
to our complaints handling processes. CICA does not have a record of the number of
complaint champions for the last five years due to the fluctuating nature of this
work. </ins></p>
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