Northern Ireland redress scheme

An institution was deemed any body, society or organisation with responsibility for the care, health or welfare of children in Northern Ireland, other than a school which, during the relevant period, provided residential accommodation and took decisions about and made provision for the day to day care of children. This included organisations run by the state, churches and charities such as children’s homes, training schools, juvenile justice centres (borstals), and orphanages.

Some of the institutions named include:-

Local authority homes

• Lissue Hospital, Lisburn
• Kincora Boys’ Home, Belfast
• Bawnmore Children’s Home, Newtownabbey
• Fort James and Harberton House, Londonderry

Juvenile justice institutions

• St Patrick’s Training School, Belfast
• Lisnevin Training School, County Down
• Rathgael Training School, Bangor
• Hydebank Young Offenders’ Centre
• Millisle Borstal

Secular voluntary homes

• Barnardo’s Sharonmore Project, Newtownabbey
• Barnardo’s Macedon, Newtownabbey

Roman Catholic voluntary homes

• St Joseph’s Home, Termonbacca, Londonderry
• Nazareth House Children’s Home, Londonderry
• Nazareth House Children’s Home, Belfast
• Nazareth Lodge Children’s Home, Belfast
• De La Salle Boys’ Home, Rubane House, Kircubbin
• St Joseph’s Training School for Girls, Middletown, Co Armagh
• Institutions run by Good Shepherd Sisters in Derry/Londonderry, Belfast and Newry

Church of Ireland

• Manor House, a children’s home near Lisburn (added November 2015)

The compensation award payment starts at £10,000 if the applicant was a resident in one of the institutions. The Redress Board will confirm that the applicant was a resident by obtaining evidence from the Public Records Office Northern Ireland (PRONI) on their behalf.

An enhanced award payment of between £10,001 and £80,000 will be made based on the applicant’s statement provided, including the nature and extent of the abuse that the person was subjected to and the ongoing impact to the applicant’s life.

A further amount of £20,000 will be awarded if the application is made by or in respect of a person who was sent to under the Child Migrant Programme if the applicant has not already been awarded compensation under the Government scheme established in the wake of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

If an applicant provided evidence to the Hart Inquiry, they are not required to provide any further evidence in the form of a witness statement, however, applicants who provided evidence to the Hart Inquiry can update their statement if they wish to do so.

The scheme will also provide assistance to people with queries about:

• benefits and housing
• debt and personal finance
• education and further education, jobs and training
• searching for personal records
• help to report abuse incidents to the Police Service of Northern Ireland

Applications will be submitted in paper and will be considered by a three-person panel consisting of a judicial member and two non-judicial members from a health and social care background. The judicial member will chair the panel.

An offer of settlement would, in theory, be made within 21 days. If the applicant does not want to accept the award amount, they have the right to appeal the determination. A single judicial member will determine the appeal. The judicial member can uphold the original decision, reverse the decision, or increase or reduce the award of the panel. A decision on the appeal is final.

There will be no legal costs to you should you choose to use a solicitor to help with your application. The benefits of instructing a solicitor from our specialist abuse team is that we will talk with you to get all of the details of your experience. All of that evidence will be drafted for your application, including all the relevant information to support the highest valuation of your claim. The scheme states payment of between £10,001 and £80,000 will be made based on the applicant’s statement, including the nature and extent of the abuse that the person was subjected to and the ongoing impact to the applicant’s life – therefore the statement is essential for the value of compensation.

We will also assist in submitting and progressing the claim which includes chasing for progress, and value your claim against the criteria to confirm if a fair settlement is offered. We will assist with the appeal if we do not agree the offer of settlement does not take all relevant evidence into account.

We have successfully assisted many survivors with redress scheme applications.