Vick, R (on the application of) v Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel

Under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, compensation for loss of earnings is calculated by reference to the period in which the claimant has suffered loss. Benefits and pensions are deductible only insofar as they relate to that period of loss. Where the claimant would have retired for an unrelated medical reason, the period of loss ends at the date when that retirement would have occurred. Provisions dealing with past loss apply where the loss has ended or continues up to assessment. Provisions dealing with future loss apply only where continuing loss of earnings or earning capacity remains. Benefits or pensions payable after the end of the loss cannot reduce the award merely because they began during the period of loss or are connected with the injury.

Roger Geoffrey Vick, a police officer, suffered a criminal injury and was medically discharged. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel accepted that he would have retired at age 55 because of unrelated osteoarthritis, but deducted benefits and pensions payable after that age when calculating his compensation.

The claimant sought judicial review of the Panel’s construction of paragraphs 31, 32, 45 and 47 of the Scheme. The central issue was whether payments received or becoming payable after the date on which the claimant would independently have retired could reduce compensation for loss of earnings.

1. The Panel’s decision was quashed. The claimant’s period of loss ended when he reached 55, because he would then have retired on medical grounds unrelated to the criminal injury. He suffered no loss of earnings or pension after that date.
2. Paragraph 31 applies to a period of loss ending before, or continuing to, assessment. It concerns past loss, traditionally described as special damages. Paragraph 32 applies where, at assessment, the claimant is likely to suffer continuing loss of earnings or earning capacity and provides for calculation by a multiplicand and multiplier.
3. The phrase “have become payable” in paragraph 31 means payments which have been, or should have been, paid during the period of loss. It does not mean that a benefit or pension which begins during that period may be deducted indefinitely.
4. Paragraph 45 permits deductions for social security benefits only against the relevant period of loss. Its reference to categories or periods of loss for which compensation is payable supports that construction.
5. Paragraph 47, although dealing with occupational pensions, is subject to the same temporal limitation. There was no rational basis for applying different rules to State benefits and employment-related pensions. Paragraph 32 also supports this interpretation: the multiplicand cannot fairly be reduced by pensions payable for years after the period of loss has ended.
6. The claimant was therefore entitled to compensation without deductions for benefits and pensions received or expected after his fifty-fifth birthday. The parties were directed to agree the resulting figure, subject to written representations. The proposed award was £42,715, and costs were summarily assessed at £10,007.50 plus VAT. Permission to appeal was granted because the Scheme’s wording was capable of affecting other cases.

The claimant sought judicial review of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel’s decision dated 11 August 2004. The High Court quashed that decision and granted permission to appeal.