Background to the report

People are sometimes harmed by the actions or inaction of public bodies, and successive governments have recognised that in some circumstances where this happens those people are entitled to be compensated.

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In January 2024, the Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) to consider a thematic review of government compensation schemes for citizens who have suffered harm, hardship and distress from failures by public bodies. The C&AG agreed that this would be a timely moment to update messages from our previous work on compensation schemes over a period of more than 20 years.

Scope of the report

The intention of this report is to draw on the lessons learned from experience by those involved in the design and operation of various schemes over the years. The report details the lessons drawn from the various schemes with supporting examples from across government to illustrate the challenges faced and how they have been addressed. It is in three parts:

  • overview of compensation schemes (Part One)
  • scheme design and planning (Part Two)
  • operational challenges (Part Three)

Conclusions

Citizens eligible for redress will have suffered hardship and distress. These citizens have a reasonable expectation that their claim will be treated fairly and speedily. There is no central coordinated approach when government sets up new compensation schemes resulting in a relatively slow, ad-hoc approach.

Setting-up and administering a compensation scheme is a complex task, and challenging for officials who may have never done it before. This has led to mistakes and inefficiencies in the design of schemes, and delays in getting money to claimants. Claimant and stakeholder confidence can be further undermined where the design and operation of the scheme is not seen as being independent from those who have caused them harm.

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