Compensation payment statistics for miscarriages of justice: FOI release

Information requested

Please provide me with the following information for the financial years 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25:

1. The total number of applications received requesting compensation for a miscarriage of justice.

2. Of those, the total number that were accepted for assessment.

3. The total number granted compensation.

4. The total number refused.

5. The total number of payments made.

6. The total amount of compensation payments made.

Please also provide me with grand totals for five year period.

Response

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to this information because it is personal information about the amount paid in compensation to people found eligible for compensation for a miscarriage of justice.

While you have not requested information about the names of the individuals, it is considered that, because of the small number of people who have made applications for compensation following a miscarriage of justice in some individual years, and the small number to whom payments have been made, there is a real risk that releasing this information broken down by individual year could enable individuals to be identified from information about the outcome of individual applications, amount paid in compensation and the year in which that payment was made to them. This exemption is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

However, we can provide information about the overall totals for the whole five year period.

For background, this information relates to the two schemes operated by the Scottish Government for compensation following a miscarriage of justice. As a general point, it should be noted that the fact of having had one's conviction overturned following an appeal is not sufficient, in itself, to qualify for compensation and there are further conditions that require to be met. More information about the two compensation schemes, including the conditions that require to be met for a person to be eligible for compensation under each of these schemes, can be found at https://www.mygov.scot/compensationmiscarriage-justice/eligibility.

Questions 1 and 2

Between the financial year of 2020/21 and 2024/25 there 26 applications for compensation as a result of a miscarriage of justice. All 26 application were accepted for assessment.

Questions 3 and 4

The number of applications that were refused in this time period is 12. A further two applications were withdrawn or abandoned. The remaining applications are still being assessed for their eligibility for compensation as a result of a miscarriage of justice. No applications were found to be eligible in this time period.

Questions 5 and 6

The total amount paid in compensation to people who have experienced a miscarriage of justice in the financial years between 2020-21 to 2024-25 is £1,945,008.35. For the avoidance of doubt, these payments were made to people whose applications were found to be eligible for compensation prior to the financial year 2020-21.

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The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.