[2025] UKUT 181 (AAC)

This is not a case where it was claimed that the Applicant did not know about the existence of the Scheme: he obviously knew about the Scheme because he applied for compensation for a different assault in August 2016. The cases of MM and JA, which were cases where the applicant did not know about the Scheme at all, are not therefore directly applicable.

If, however, this were a case about an applicant not knowing about the existence of the Scheme, then the Tribunal would need to consider why he did not know about the existence of the Scheme.

That is because not knowing about the Scheme is not of itself an exceptional circumstance. That is because any person can make enquiries, such as researching on the internet and seeking advice, in order to find out about the Scheme and make an application in time.

That is made clear in MM at [45], where Lord Glennie said (emphasis added) that:

“… In para.15 of its decision, the FtT conclude that such ignorance of the scheme could not reasonably be described as an exceptional circumstance insofar as the petitioner was not a child at the date of the incident, did not suffer from any intellectual or cognitive deficit and who was intelligent, educated and socially aware … Taken by itself this reasoning is unexceptional. As counsel for the respondent pointed out, the petitioner could have made enquiries and found out about the scheme. But this is to take too narrow a view. The petitioner’s ignorance of the scheme has to be taken as part of the bigger picture, which is that of a victim of rape manifesting the reticence commonly seen amongst such victims as described in the authorities to which I have referred. The question is whether such a person, who is ex hypothesi reluctant to speak to anyone about the incident let alone report matters to the authorities, could reasonably be expected to make enquiries about a compensation scheme which depended upon her telling others about what had happened.”

Hence, in MM the Court of Session held that:

of itself, ignorance of the existence of the Scheme could not reasonably be described as an exceptional circumstance. No objection could be taken to that statement

however, where a person is not aware of existence of the Scheme, the question is whether she could reasonably have been expected to make enquiries about compensation so as to enable her to make a complaint sooner

given that the victim was a victim of rape (whose victims are often deterred from reporting the matter as a result of the psychological and emotional trauma of the crime (at [44]), if that did prevent her from making the necessary