§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department to what date he intends to backdate the option of structured settlements for victims who are awarded large sums of criminal injury compensation under the existing scheme administered by the Criminal Injury Compensation Board; and whether the qualifying date will be(a) the date of injury, (b) the date of 389W application for compensation or (c) the date of award. [33103]
§ Mr. MacleanAs indicated in a Commons Committee, 27 June,Official Report, column 236, before applicants under the 1990 scheme, or an earlier scheme, can benefit from structured settlements it will be necessary, first, to amend the 1990 scheme to allow payment to be made by the purchase of annuities and, secondly, to make statutory provision to ensure that income from such annuities is exempt from income tax. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Bill which is currently being considered in another place provides an appropriate vehicle for this.
It will not be possible to offer structured settlements to victims whose claims have already been settled. But once the 1990 scheme has been amended and the statutory provision has been enacted, victims whose claims have not then been finally settled will, in all appropriate cases, be offered the option of payment by structured settlement.