A LEADING criminal injuries lawyer has called on the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to lift the cap on compensation for victims of crime, calling the current limit a “national disgrace.”

Neil Sugarman, a former president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said the £500,000 maximum award under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) scheme has not been increased since 1996.

“We’re about to reach the 30th anniversary of the maximum award cap,” he said, adding that it was “literally a drop in the ocean” for victims left with catastrophic injuries.

“If you are brain-damaged, paralysed or permanently disabled as a result of being a victim of crime, £500,000 does not begin to cover a lifetime of care,” he said.

Mr Sugarman argued that raising the cap would not cost the government significantly because few claimants qualify for the maximum award.

He also criticised delays at the CICA, saying victims were being left without updates for months.

“You cannot say to traumatised victims, ‘we can’t tell you what’s happening for six months’,” he said.

The MoJ said lifting the cap would undermine the scheme’s “financial sustainability” as it is taxpayer-funded.