If you have suffered sexual abuse or physical abuse or assault and you are seeking justice by way of compensation there may be options as to who you can bring your claim against:

• Your abuser’s employer
• An organisation, company or institution your abuser is part of or who has control or a close connection with your abuser
• The individual abuser

Our institutional sexual and physical assault and abuse compensation calculator will give you an idea of what compensation you could be entitled to claim.

Most claims are brought against the employer or an organisation, company or institution as they will most likely be insured against such claims or have sufficient money to pay your compensation and legal costs if your case is successful. Below are some examples of who you would being your claim against, dependent on who abused you or where you were abused:

• Child abuse in children’s homes
  If a children’s home is owned and managed by the local council, the claim would be brought against them. There are and have been many privately run children’s homes and homes run by charitable organisations, such as Barnardo’s
• Abuse in foster care
  If you have been abused by a foster the claim will be brought against the local authority responsible for the foster parents
• Abuse in schools and other educational settings
  If you were abused at school or educational establishment and it is a local authority owned school then the claim would be brought against the local authority. Many schools in England and Wales are privately run or run by religious organisations in which case you would sue the Company or the religious organisation, for example the Catholic Church.
• Abuse in the Scouts
  There are over 7,500 scout groups in the United Kingdom and if you suffer abuse as a member of the scouts or abuse by a scout master you would bring your claim against The Scout Association
• Abuse in hospitals and other medical settings
  Hospitals may be private or local authority run. If you were abused at a Bupa Hospital you would bring your claim against Bupa. The relevant NHS trust would be sued if you were abused at an NHS hospital or one of their clinics. GP surgeries are a little different as the are usually run as partnerships and the claim would be pursued against the partnership.

• They will most likely be insured or have sufficient money
• They will almost always instruct a solicitor or their insurer will have its own in house legal teams
• They will use lawyers who are familiar with claims for compensation for abuse and assaults
• Holding the employer or organisation accountable helps to safeguard others in the future
• If the organisation or employer wants to they can seek to recover any money they have to pay you from the individual who abused you and they very often do this

It is possible to seek compensation from the person who abused you. This is not always the best option as suing an individual is not always straight forward.

• It may be emotionally difficult if the individual is a family member or someone that had an emotional hold on you
• The individual may be hostile and un-cooperative in the litigation process and may refuse to co-operate with the litigation process
• If the individual does not instruct a solicitor and does not have an understanding of the law the case is likely to run less smoothly
• An individual may not have sufficient money or assets to pay your compensation and your legal costs and is unlikely to be insured for this type of claim

If there is no other option or if there is evidence that you abuser has sufficient money or assets and your solicitor is satisfied that any money the individual is ordered to pay, will be paid, it may be possible to sue the individual. This often happens in cases involving abuse by public figures and celebrities, who may be wealthy and have enough money to pay your damages, your legal fees and their own legal fees.

If your abuser was a family member or someone very close to you, it may be that you have a greater insight into their financial position. It may be that their finances and assets are being added up and information about their wealth being gathered as part of a divorce settlement or as part of probate and this is often the best time to claim as solicitors are also likely to be involved.