12-year-old victim of sex abuse 'denied compensation because she voluntarily walked with attacker to the woods'

Sexually abused children as young as 12 are being denied compensation by a government agency because they are considered to have “consented”, a coalition of charities has said.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), which is part of the Ministry of Justice, offers compensation payouts for sexual assault cases that range from £1,000 to £44,000, but has refused payments to almost 700 child victims, a freedom of information request has revealed.

Legally, children aged under 16 cannot consent to sexual activity, unless they are aged over 13 and the defendant reasonably believed they were over 16.

But, by using a different criteria, the CICA has been able to deny compensation.

Victim Support, one of five charities who have written to the justice secretary, David Lidington, demanding a review of CICA guidelines, highlighted a series of disturbing cases.

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In one, a 12-year-old girl who was given alcohol, led into the woods and sexually assaulted by a 21-year-old man, was denied compensation because she went with him “voluntarily”.

Her attacker, a 21-year-old man, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13.

In a case highlighted by Barnardo’s a boy who was groomed online from the age of 13 and sexually exploited by 23 men was refused compensation because “on balance of probabilities the evidence suggests that [the child] consented in fact to the sexual contact with the individuals concerned.”

Twenty-one of his attackers were found guilty of offences including grooming and sexual assault.

Dawn Thomas, co-chair of Rape Crisis England & Wales, said: “It’s not only bizarre but also inappropriate and harmful that [CICA] applies a different definition of consent from the law and, as a result, routinely tell victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation that they consented to the sexual violence perpetrated against them.”

In evidence submitted to the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse last year, Barnardo’s said that CICA had responded to a claim from one of the children by saying that “it considers consent as a question of fact, and this determines eligibility for compensation. A victim can consent in fact even though in law they may be deemed not to have consented.”

Javed Khan, the chief executive of the charity, said: “For children to be denied compensation on the grounds that they ‘consented’ to the abuse they have suffered is nothing short of scandalous. The very rules that are supposed to protect children are actually harming them.”