- miscarriage of justice compensation guidance on “saved living
expenses” scrapped
- guidance changed with immediate effect
- “common sense” change to make system fairer for victims of
miscarriages of justice
Lord Chancellor has taken decisive action to
inject greater fairness into how payout decisions for
miscarriages of justice are made, ending the possibility that
people can be ‘charged’ for saved living costs.
This element of the guidance was added in 2006 and will be
removed with immediate effect, applying to all future payments
made under the miscarriage of justice compensation scheme.
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, KC, said:
Fairness is a core pillar of our justice system and it is not
right that victims of devastating miscarriages of justice can
have deductions made for saved living expenses.
This common sense change will ensure victims do not face paying
twice for crimes they did not commit.
The miscarriage of justice compensation scheme is designed to
help individuals restart and rebuild their lives. It is just one
route in which an individual can receive compensation for a
wrongful conviction, with other options including suing public
bodies.
In order to be eligible for a payment under the scheme
individuals must:
- Apply within 2 years of being pardoned or having their
conviction reversed as a result of a newly discovered fact
- Have had their conviction reversed on the basis of a new fact
which demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt they did not commit
the offence
- Not be responsible for the non-disclosure of the new fact
Once eligible, the level of compensation is decided by an
independent assessor. An award of compensation will normally fall
into 2 parts:
- Compensation for the impact of the wrongful conviction on an
individual, including damage to their reputation or to their
physical or mental health, loss of freedom and inconvenience
- Loss of past or future earnings, expenses or legal costs
resulting from their time in custody
Under previous guidance, the independent assessor could make a
deduction from loss of past earnings based on “saved living
expenses” such as rent or mortgage payments which were not
incurred during their time in prison.
The maximum amount of compensation payable under the miscarriage
of justice system is £1 million for 10 or more years imprisonment
or £500,000 for up to 10 years.
Notes to editors
- Decisions on whether a case is eligible for compensation is
determined by the Justice Secretary or those he delegates the
decision to
- The independent assessor must normally be a person with a
7-year general legal qualification or has held a judicial office
in any part of the UK
- While the previous guidance included the option for saved
living expenses to be deducted from compensation payouts this has
not been used in over 10 years
