Unspent Convictions and Campaign for Change

The CICA currently have a strict rule in place which prevents or reduces an award to an applicant. This is the “unspent convictions” rule which prevents an individual who has committed an illegal act from benefiting from state funded legislation.

Jordans Solicitors have been campaigning and speaking out about this for many years.

An unspent conviction is a conviction that hasn’t completed its rehabilitation period and would show on a person’s criminal record. If the unspent conviction relates to a custodial or community sentence, an Applicant’s application is automatically rejected. In some circumstances the award will be reduced.

It is common for survivors of serious crimes such as sexual abuse to have linked convictions relating to the time they were suffering abuse. 

The scheme fails to recognise that abuse survivors are usually forced to offend by their exploiters and abusers, particularly in exploitation or coercion cases, or exposure to sexual and domestic abuse has contributed to their conviction.

We strongly feel that this rule disproportionately affects survivors of both sexual abuse or trafficking. They can be disqualified from the scheme simply because they have a previous irrelevant record.

Some argue that all offenders must bear the consequences of their offending, including exclusion from compensation. We would respond by saying that this is unfair and disproportionate, as under the current scheme a minor unspent conviction would result in an Applicant not receiving any compensation to what would be a life changing psychological and sometimes physical injury.

Government Consultations

In August 2022 there was a Government consultation on the CICA unspent convictions rule. This followed the recommendation by the Independent Investigation into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), that this rule should be revised to give decision makers case by case discretion or be abolished altogether. The Government decided not to make any changes to the scheme.

In May 2025, there was a further Government consultation. Again, the Government failed to make changes. The Government explained that they see the scheme’s core principle is its universally and all victims of crime of violence must be treated equally irrespective of the nature of the violent crime they have suffered. 

They argued that making changes to the scheme would undermine this principle as any changes to the unspent convictions rule would only apply to survivors of child sexual abuse.

Campaign for Change

The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers (ACAL) and the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) continue the fight for the “unspent conviction” rule to be changed. APIL have highlighted the need for change in the context of the Victim’s and Court’s Bill, pushing for amendments that would remove these barriers. 

Their campaign aims to make the compensation process fairer and more accessible for vulnerable people, ensuring that a past, unspent conviction does not act as a total barrier for justice for victims of violent crimes. Jordans are members of ACAL and APIL and support this campaign.

Recently Jordans Solicitors have been approached by Rhiannon Davies who is completing Doctoral Research into the “unspent rule” with the intention that once completed, the research will be sent to the Government with the intention of persuading them to reconsider their view.

Rhiannon has prepared a questionnaire which may be of interest to you and the people who you support. 

Can you help?

If you are interested in supporting her research and joining the campaign to remover the rule from the CICA’s eligibility criteria, we enclose a link to the questionnaire below:

"My name is Rhiannon Davies, and I am a doctoral researcher at the University of Nottingham. I am writing to you in in relation to my doctoral research project. My project explores the restrictions on compensation provision for victims and survivors of violent crime who have unspent criminal convictions by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), informally referred to as the ‘unspent convictions rule’.

The aim of this study is to provide evidence to contribute towards positive future change. 

In order to take part in the anonymous survey, please see the following link: https://forms.office.com/e/Y3VcBvTe2V. The survey should take 15-20 minutes to complete and is open until the 2nd March 2026.

This research has been approved by the University of Nottingham’s Research Ethics Committee and is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)."