The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme in 2026

What the Scheme is

The Scheme of Compensation for Personal Injuries Criminally Inflicted is the State's scheme for people injured by a crime of violence. It is run by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal, under the Department of Justice, and it is not a court and not the Injuries Resolution Board. The current version is the 2021 Scheme. An application is made on the Tribunal's form, which is on the Department of Justice's page, with the Tribunal's guidance beside it.

The Scheme exists because most people who are assaulted cannot recover anything from the person who did it. An attacker has no insurer, is often unidentified, and rarely has the means to pay a civil award. The Scheme pays instead, from public funds, on its own terms. Those terms are stricter than the ordinary personal injury rules in two respects, the time limit and the Garda report, and historically narrower in a third, what it pays for.

Two years, absolute

An application to the Tribunal must be made within two years of the incident. Since the 2021 Scheme that limit is absolute: the Tribunal has no discretion to extend it, however good the reason. The two years run from the incident, not from the date of knowledge that applies to an ordinary personal injury claim under section 3 of the Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Act 1991, and not from any conviction. The time-limit checker counts the days from the date you give it.

That is the one rule in this guide that cannot be worked around. If the incident was more than two years ago, the Scheme is closed; the civil claim against an identified attacker, below, may still be open.

The Garda report and cooperation

The Scheme requires that the incident was reported to the Gardaí without delay, and that the applicant cooperates with the Garda investigation. A conviction is not required, and the Tribunal decides applications where no one was charged, but it asks the Gardaí for a report of what was reported and when, and it can refuse or reduce an award where the report was late or the applicant did not cooperate.

The Tribunal can also reduce or refuse an award on account of the applicant's own conduct, including conduct that led to the incident, and the Scheme's wording on this is the Tribunal's own. Where the applicant and the attacker were living together, the Scheme has conditions of its own, which the Tribunal's guidance sets out.

What the Scheme has paid

Until the 2026 amendment commences, the Scheme covers expenses and loss only.

The Tribunal deducts social welfare and other payments received on account of the injury, and the Scheme has its own minimum below which no award is made. The Scheme's guidance gives the figure; this site does not restate it because the Tribunal revises the Scheme and the figure should be read from the Department's page on the day.

The 2026 amendment

The Court of Justice of the European Union (the CJEU, see the glossary) ruled that a national scheme for victims of violent crime must provide what the EU directive calls "fair and appropriate compensation", and that a scheme which pays nothing for the injury itself does not. Following that ruling the Scheme is being amended in 2026 to cover general damages, that is pain and suffering, as the Personal Injuries Guidelines bracket them for an ordinary claim. The commencement of that amendment is to be confirmed, and until it commences the Scheme pays as the table above shows. The changes page records the amendment's progress and will say when it commences and for which incidents.

What the amendment means in practice is not yet settled on the Department's page: whether it applies to incidents before commencement, to applications already made, or only to applications after a date. Anyone with an application in train, or an incident within the last two years, has reason to watch the date.

The civil claim against an identified attacker

An assault is a civil wrong as well as a crime. Where the attacker is identified, a claim for the injury can be made against them, and it goes where every personal injury claim goes: to the Injuries Resolution Board under section 12 of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003, on the Board's own form, with a medical report on the Board's Medical Assessment Form (Form B) and the €45 fee online. The Board assesses general damages with regard to the Guidelines, which bracket pain and suffering, and vouched special damages are added. The Board, start to finish sets out the steps.

The ordinary rules apply: two years from the date of knowledge, paused by a Board application under section 50; the one-month notice of the wrong under section 8 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004, which the one-month letter guide explains. The attacker is the respondent, and there is usually no insurer behind them. The Board serves its Formal Notice on them; they have 90 days to consent, and silence is deemed consent. An assessment or a court award is then a debt owed by that person, and its value is only as good as their means.

Where the assault happened at work, in a shop, in a pub or on a premises, a separate question arises about whether the occupier or employer failed in a duty of its own, for example in security or supervision. That claim is against a party who usually does have an insurer, and it is a different claim from the one against the attacker. A solicitor would weigh whether the facts support it. The work accident guide covers the employer's duties.

Running both

The Scheme and a civil claim are not alternatives: an application to the Tribunal can be made whether or not a civil claim is brought. The Scheme deducts what is recovered from the attacker or from any other source for the same loss, and it asks the applicant to say what claims have been made. The Tribunal's form asks the question directly, and the answer must be exact.

Gardaí injured on duty

A member of An Garda Síochána injured maliciously in the course of duty has a separate route under the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Act 2022: an application to the Garda Commissioner within 6 months of the injury, after which the claim is assessed by the Board. The Board's page on the Garda Compensation Scheme describes it. The one-month notice under section 8 does not apply to those claims.

The psychological injury

An assault often leaves more than a physical injury. Since 2023 the Board can assess a claim for a psychological injury on its own, and the Guidelines bracket post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric damage in sections of their own; 15% of the Board's 2025 awards involved a psychological injury, the Board's figure on the figures register. The psychiatric injury guide explains what a recognised diagnosis is and what the brackets look like. For the Scheme, the same injury is an expense and a loss until the amendment commences, and an injury in its own right after.

Where this leaves you

Two dates matter: two years from the incident for the Tribunal, with no extension, and two years from the date of knowledge for a civil claim, with the Board's pause. The time-limit checker works out both from the dates you give it, and the changes page will say when the 2026 amendment commences.