Compensation Orders

The court has the power to award compensation to any person who has suffered injury, loss or damage as a result of being the victim of crime.

In today's article I give a quick overview of the use of compensation orders in the Magistrates' Court. The imposition of compensation orders is governed by part 7, chapter 2 of the Sentencing Act 2020.

The Sentencing Council has published a table of suggested compensation starting points for lower level physical and mental injuries. However, as the court is legally obliged to consider an offender's means, the level of compensation awarded by the court is invariably much less than that shown in the table.

From a personal point of view, I have to say that I find the rules largely unsatisfactory.

As far as I am concerned, if an offender causes £1000 worth of injury, loss or damage, then they should pay £1000 in compensation. However, the reality is not like that - because unlike in civil proceedings, the criminal court is legally obliged to consider the offender's means.

This means that an offender might cause significant loss to their victim, but because they haven't got two ha'pennies to rub together (at least, so they claim) they might never need to fully compensate them.

A compensation order can either be imposed as a standalone sentence, in which case there is no associated surcharge, or as an ancilliary order to any other sentence imposed by the court.

Particular consideration needs to be given to the imposition of a standalone compensation order. Imposing such an order effectively means the offender is escaping any punishment apart from having to pay what they rightfully owe.

If the offender is of limited means, then compensation takes priority over the imposition of any fine, surcharge or prosecution costs.

The court should consider compensation in every case where there is loss, injury or damage. However, it is not always appropriate to award compensation - e.g. if the offence is very old; has already been covered by an insurance payment; the victim indicates they want a clean break from the offender.

If the court decides against awarding compensation, then it must give its reasons for doing so.

The majority of offenders are unable to immediately settle their financial obligations to the court. That being the case, the court will usually offer payment terms so that the balance can be paid over the course of a year. In exceptional circumstances, the court might allow repayment over a longer period of time, usually up to an absolute maximum of 3 years.

For example, you might have a vandal who has caused £1000 worth of damage to shop windows, but their only (official) source of income is benefits. They cannot afford to pay £1000 immediately, so the court would usually agree to payment by instalment.

You might remember from my earlier Fine Levels and Bands article that a person in receipt of benefits is assumed to have a relevant weekly income of £120. On that level of income it is assumed they can afford to pay £20 a month to the court. This means they could pay a maximum of £720 in compensation (£20 per month, for 36 months), if the court was prepared to allow repayment over the maximum of 3 years.

In this case the court would make a compensation order of £720, which the owner of the shop windows would receive in dribs and drabs over the next 3 years. Of course the tradesperson who replaced the broken windows would want full payment within 28 days of invoice. As for the £280 shortfall, well that's just tough luck.

In reality, most offenders before the court already owe a considerable sum for other offences. Despite committing their crimes, they may never pay off what they owe already. Anyone in the queue for compensation will just need to wait patiently to receive a payment that may never arrive.

As I said earlier, I find the rules largely unsatisfactory. More needs to be done to get compensatees their cash and much quicker. The trouble is that if you squeeze the offender too tightly for payment, they might be driven to further crime in order to fund it.