Understanding One Punch Attack Compensation
If you or someone you love has been hurt in a one punch attack, the consequences can be severe and immediate. Attacks like this can result in brain injury, fractured skull, post-traumatic epilepsy, ongoing cognitive change, and mental injury.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority scheme covers these cases. This page sets out how a one punch attack CICA claim is built, what the scheme actually pays for, and what it is reasonable to expect from the process.
In short, the CICA scheme treats a one punch attack as a violent crime, regardless of whether the attacker intended serious harm.
Brain damage tariff awards from £6,200 to £250,000 apply. Plus loss of earnings, special expenses, and mental injury where it is separately supportable.
The combined-effects rule (Note 3 of Annex E) means concussion, cognitive difficulties and neurological sequelae are valued together as one combined picture.
The application deadline is two years from the incident. If the person who was hurt was under 18, the deadline is their 20th birthday, save for exceptional circumstances where it can be demonstrated that it was not possible to bring a claim within this time
A criminal conviction of the attacker is not required for a CICA claim to succeed.
We know that reading this can feel difficult for survivors of a one punch attacks. There is no pressure to act today. The information below is here for when you are ready.
Stacey Flegg, Head of CICA at Winston Solicitors. Over 13 years specialising in Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority claims, including complex First Tier Tribunal appeals. Read more about Stacey. Last reviewed 29 May 2026.
What a One Punch Attack Means Under the CICA Scheme
The CICA Scheme cica 2012 covers any deliberate act of violence that caused the injury. A one punch attack qualifies as a deliberate act of violence even where the attacker did not intend the level of harm that resulted. The scheme does not require that the attacker meant to cause a brain injury or a death. It requires that the punch was deliberate.
This matters, because one punch attack cases often arise in contexts where intent to cause serious harm is hard to prove in a criminal trial. Situations where a single blow is thrown outside a pub or venue and the attacker walks away. It’s not until later that the consequences emerge. A prosecution may not succeed, or it may result in a lesser charge, or no charges may be brought at all. The CICA cica scheme is independent of all of this. Whether the attacker is convicted, charged, or identified does not determine whether a CICA claim succeeds.
The eligibility test is whether the incident was a violent crime reported to the police at the earliest practical opportunity, that there is sufficient evidence to support the attack, whether the person who was hurt has cooperated with any investigation, and whether the application is made within the time limit.
How One Punch Injuries Are Tariffed
A one punch attack typically produces some combination of concussion, brain damage, secondary epilepsy, and mental injury. The CICA tariff in Annex E groups these under the head-and-neck section, with brain damage as the lead category.
| Injury | Tariff |
| Minor head injury (concussion, headaches, impaired balance), 28 weeks or more | £1,500 |
| Minor head injury, permanent | £6,200 |
| Minor brain damage, 6 months to 2 years | £16,500 |
| Minor brain damage, 2 years or more | £22,000 |
| Moderate brain damage | £27,000 to £82,000 |
| Moderately severe brain damage | £110,000 |
| Very serious brain damage | £175,000 to £250,000 |
| Epilepsy (post-traumatic), partial or fully controlled | £6,200 to £13,500 |
| Epilepsy, uncontrolled despite medication | £44,000 |
Source: CICA Scheme 2012, Annex E, Part A, Section 2.
Above the tariff sit loss of earnings, special expenses, and mental injury where it is supportable as a separate head of claim. The overall scheme cap is £500,000.
The full statutory grounding for brain damage is on our brain injury compensation page.
Why One Punch Cases Often Qualify for Higher Awards Than the Headline Figure Suggests
The brain damage tariff is the start of the picture, not the end. Three factors commonly lift a one punch claim beyond the tariff figure.
First - the combined-effects rule (Note 3 of Annex E). Verbatim
Where the cause of any injury is brain damage there will not be additional awards for separate injuries but the seriousness of the combined effects will be measured together.
In one punch attacks, this matters because concussion, brain damage, and any secondary epilepsy or cognitive change are treated as one combined brain injury and the seriousness of all of them together pushes the tariff band upward. The argument for which band the claim sits in is not always obvious from a quick read of the medical notes. Specialist representation makes a measurable difference here.
Second - loss of earnings
A one punch attack is most often suffered by someone of working age. Where the cognitive sequelae prevent a return to employment, loss of earnings can become a major head of claim. The CICA scheme calculates this up to the £500,000 overall cap.
Third - special expenses
Home adaptations, care costs, equipment, private medical treatment not available on the NHS, and the cost of administering the person’s affairs where capacity is lost. These are routinely under-claimed where the application is made without specialist support.
The Two-year Time Limit & the Exceptions
You have two years from the date of the incident to apply. If the person who was hurt was under 18 at the time, the deadline is their 20th birthday. The CICA can extend the deadline in exceptional circumstances, but it does not extend lightly. The application has to explain why the extension is needed and demonstrate that there is a good reason the deadline was missed.
Common reasons for extension that the CICA may accept include the person being too unwell to act, being in hospital for an extended period, mental injury making engagement impossible, and (for child victims) a delay in someone acting on their behalf. The extension is not automatic and a specialist CICA solicitor will present your circumstances in the appropriate way to maximise your chances of the extension being granted
Where a one punch attack survivor is still in recovery or has lost mental capacity, an application can be made on their behalf by a parent, partner, deputy, or other authorised person. The route through depends on the family’s situation.
The Police Report Rule & Why It Matters in Unprovoked-attack Cases
The CICA needs the incident reported to the police at the earliest practical opportunity. In a one punch case where the person who was hurt was knocked unconscious, that report often comes from a friend, a family member, or paramedics on the scene rather than from the survivor themselves. The CICA accepts this where the timeline shows the report was made as soon as the circumstances allowed.
What matters is the contemporary record: the police report, the ambulance record, the hospital admission notes. The CICA cross-references these. A delay can be explained, but the explanation has to fit the contemporary record.
Mental Injury After a One Punch Attack
Many one punch survivors develop a significant mental injury alongside the physical injury: post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, agoraphobia, depression, sleep disturbance, panic disorder. The CICA scheme treats mental injury as a separate tariff section with awards from £1,000 to £27,000.
Whether the mental injury is awarded as a separate head of claim or treated as part of the brain damage tariff depends on the medical evidence. A psychiatric report that diagnoses a recognised separate condition (such as PTSD with specific diagnostic criteria met) supports a separate award. A report that describes general distress without a separate diagnosis tends to be folded into the brain damage tariff under Note 3.
A specialist solicitor briefs the medical experts on what the CICA scheme looks for. That brief is one of the most consequential pieces of work in the case.
Loss of Earnings - A Part of the Claim that the Tariff Does Not Cover
Loss of earnings is available where the injury caused an incapacity for work for more than 28 weeks.
For a one punch survivor who cannot return to work, or has very limited capacity for employment, the loss of earnings head of claim can be the largest part of the total. The work in establishing it is the vocational rehabilitation assessment and the long-term earnings projection. Both need specialist input.
How Winston Solicitors Handle a One Punch Attack Compensation Claim
Winston Solicitors has a specialist CICA team based in Leeds that act for clients across the UK. Stacey leads the team. Her work on brain injury claims combines technical knowledge of the scheme and the medical evidence required, with the patience to support clients through what can be a difficult process.
Your first conversation with us is always free. There is no pressure to proceed. If we take your claim on, we work on a no win, no fee basis: nothing to pay if the claim does not succeed, our fee capped as a fixed percentage of your compensation, usually 25% plus VAT of the award if it does.
“Sometimes, it seems as though I am the first person who has truly listened. Successfully claiming compensation for those who feel they have been failed by other services can feel like a form of justice for them. Whilst the compensation will never take away a person’s suffering, seeing this improve people’s lives for the future is why I love what I do.” Stacey Flegg, Head of CICA, Winston Solicitors
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Support resources for One Punch Attacks
If you or your family are finding this hard, there are independent organisations that can help. These are independent of Winston Solicitors and independent of any claim.
- Samaritans, free 24-hour listening service: 116 123
- Mind, mental health support: 0300 123 3393
- Brain Injury Group: information and signposting on brain injury support
Yes. The CICA scheme does not require a conviction. It requires that the incident was reported to the police and that you have cooperated with any investigation. Winston Solicitors run one punch CICA claims regularly where no conviction was secured.
Drinking alcohol does not disqualify you from a CICA claim. The CICA applies a conduct test that can reduce an award where the applicant’s conduct contributed to the incident, but being out drinking is not the same as contributing to the incident. The argument here is evidence-led and a specialist solicitor can make a measurable difference.
The general deadline is two years from the date of the incident. If you were under 18 at the time, you have until your 20th birthday. Where the deadline has passed, CICA can extend in exceptional circumstances, and the application has to set out why. We have successfully argued out-of-time applications and can talk you through whether your circumstances would support one.
Many survivors of one punch attacks have no memory of the incident itself. The CICA accepts evidence from witnesses, CCTV, police records, ambulance records, and hospital admission notes to establish what happened. The lack of personal memory is not a reason the claim cannot proceed.
No. The CICA process is independent of any criminal or civil proceedings. You are not asked to give evidence against the attacker. You are not asked to be in the same room as them for the purposes of your claim. We do not make any contact with the offender.
Straightforward cases settle within 18 to 24 months. Brain injury claims often take longer because the medical picture has to stabilise before the tariff band can be set accurately. Rushing the medical evidence usually costs more than waiting.
Only with your consent. The CICA correspondence comes to you, or to us as your representatives. Family members are not informed unless you ask us to involve them.
Nothing. We work on a no win, no fee basis.
Yes. Where the person who was hurt has lost capacity, or is still too unwell to engage with the process, a parent, partner, deputy, or other authorised person can apply on their behalf. Winston Solicitors can talk you through the route.
A CICA claim can be made by a qualifying relative of a person who had died as a result of a criminal injury. The Scheme offers dedicated bereavement payments, funeral expenses, dependency payments and compensation for your own injuries if you witnessed the fatality. We can help you understand which elements you are able to apply for.
