Welcome to our site ...

After three months of waiting, the government finally sent out two cheques to victims of the July 7 bombs, with twenty more cheques on the way. The government has been under fire from public outcry regarding emergency payouts for victims and their families, many who are in dire straits and some on the financial brink of losing their homes.

The long wait for emergency payouts to victims from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) was blamed on extreme, and in some cases unnecessary delays in receiving police and medical reports. CICA senior officials have requested that an emergency fund be established immediately for any future terrorist acts so that when such an event occurs in future, payments to victims in need could be made expediently and without a lot of red tape delay.

This request stems from criticism of the CICA operation; in contrast both The London Bombings Relief Charitable Fund and Red Cross were successful in delivering much needed emergency funds to victims and their families within two weeks following the London bombings.

Parliament established a very strict set of guidelines for the CICA, effectively tying their hands and rendering them unable to expedite payments. Protocol dictates that each claim must be verified by a certified police report and a detailed medical report prior to the issuance of any financial payout to victims or their family members. Each family will only receive a maximum of £11,000, including those families where more than 1 family member was killed during the bombings. This means the £11,000 would be divided among the family. Similarly, only $2 million (£1.13 million) was dispersed to September 11 victims and their families by the US government.

One victim who lost both her legs to the July 7 bombs is worried about how she will pay all the mounting bills, many of which are hospital stay and medical related. The greater number of the July 7 bombs are forced to rely on the benevolence of their families, friends, employers and private victim funds to make ends meet. The first person to accept a compensation payout check was a father of a July 7 bombing victim.

To date, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority has only made offers totalling £400,000 for a total of 22 victims in the July 7 bombings. They have received 209 compensation applications to date and expect to receive 2,500 more with an average payout of £6,000 to each victim and/or their family members.