Victims let down

Jack Straw has spoken many times of his concern for victims of crime. While the purpose of the scheme is admirable, it is complicated and drawn out, with only one-third of crime victims actually aware that they can claim compensation."

The Public Accounts Committee had also recently noted that nearly one in five of victims found the application form too long and complex to complete; and only one in 20 of those eligible to apply do so in the first place, Ms Stevens said.

Other injured people were also suffering from bureaucracy or gaps in the compensation process, Ms Stevens added.

In the workplace, thousands of injured people could not trace their employers' insurers and so had no remedy for the harm they have been caused just by doing their jobs, she said.

The reason was the "lack of will to set up a comprehensive database of insurance policies, supported by a fund of last resort", where no policy could be traced.

"Such a database is only available for motor policies," she said. "This seems a glaring omission and one where APIL is working alongside others for change."

Bereaved people were also being let down, Ms Stevens added. There was a lack of legal aid funding for inquests, which was only granted in "exceptional" cases: in one case it took a battle of eight months to secure funding.

Finally medical accident victims were being failed by hospital trusts who were still reluctant to make early apologies to those they had injured, she added.

"Why, in the most poignant of circumstances, did my clients, who lost a child through culpable clinical error, have to wait almost 2.5 years, before an apology was finally offered and even then, only after persistent requests."

Ms Stevens said she was proud however to head an organisation which put people before the "pursuit of financial gain" which had led "so many in the city to the brink of collapse."