Fairer Compensation For Injured Officers

South Yorkshire Police Federation has welcomed changes to compensation guidance that aims to secure fairer treatment for injured officers.

Police officers and other emergency workers will now be treated more fairly when injured in the line of duty, following successful work by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) and the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) to force changes to Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) guidance.

Many injuries sustained while detaining or restraining violent offenders were previously not recognised as resulting from a “crime of violence”, nor as involving “exceptional risk”. This meant police officers were effectively excluded from claims despite the clear danger and harm involved in their work.

The updated rules now make clear that when an emergency worker is injured by someone violently resisting arrest or restraint, decision-makers must fully consider whether the offender’s actions amount to a crime of violence – including cases involving recklessness.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said that the PFEW had achieved a great result for officers. He said: “At the moment, the default answer from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority seems to be no. That’s just not acceptable.

“Without going into details, I’m dealing with an officer who has suffered quite significant injuries, and they have not been paid out or given anything from the CICA. This change may not help them retrospectively, but the system has to change.

“The national Federation has done a great job in getting this tightened up, because there are too many officers getting injured who are receiving no compensation or recognition for what they have been through.

“It’s unacceptable that police officers have essentially been neglected in this regard, and there needs to be a far better structure and mechanism for them to receive compensation, which hopefully this will achieve.”