Abuse home residents '˜should get automatic compensation'

A report into how to deal with those who suffered historic abuse has recommended that all residents of homes where it occurred should all be entitled to an automatic minimum payment.
By The Newsroom
Published 16th May 2016, 22:51 BST
Updated 16th May 2016, 23:56 BST
Margaret McGuckin, from Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse, at Stormont at the launch of the latest reportMargaret McGuckin, from Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse, at Stormont at the launch of the latest report
Margaret McGuckin, from Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse, at Stormont at the launch of the latest report

The report – published on Monday – further adds that they should then be entitled to further cash based on their own individual experiences.

It states: “There should be two categories of compensation available to survivors – a common experience payment and compensation for cases of individual abuse.

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“Every survivor verified as a resident at the residential institutions listed in the Hart Inquiry remit should be entitled to a common experience payment.”

This would include Kincora.

Such a payment should be “the subject of future negotiation”.

Nonetheless, the report goes on to add that a “reasonable and fair” reference point would be “£10,000 for every student who resided in a residential institution plus an additional £3,000 for every year attended”.

Amnesty International’s Patrick Corrigan, part of the panel behind the report, said: “Where there are institutions where abuse was endemic, we’re saying each of those residents should be eligible for a flat payment without having to prove that they experienced particular abuse directed at them; that they were basically children in an abusive environment that was supposed to be a caring environment.”

The report was carried out via the University of Ulster.

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Entitled ‘What Survivors Want: Part Two, A Compensation Framework for Historic Abuses in Residential Institutions’, it follows another report – called ‘What Survivors Want From Redress’ – which was published by the same panel in March.