Legal Update – Victims' Surcharge Orders

For any offences that the Courts are able to punish with a fine, provided the offence was committed on or after 1 April 2007, a £15 victims' surcharge will now be payable.  This surcharge will be added whether or not any other form of punishment is imposed.

The reasoning for introducing this surcharge is for the money raised to be used for the purpose of adding to funds made available for victim and witness support services.  At present the surcharge will only be used in circumstances where a fine can be ordered as part of the punishment for the offence. 

There is no great legal or conceptual reason for only imposing this surcharge on offences where a fine is an available punishment; rather, until a new computer/accounting system can be developed it all needs to run through the fines system already in place.

Once new accounting/computer systems are in place, it appears likely that this surcharge will be introduced for all offences.  Best predictions suggest this will be in 2008/9.

There may be scope for arguing that this surcharge should not apply to road traffic offences and the lawyers in Motor Defence Team are best placed to advise you on those arguments.

The surcharge can range from nil to the £15 and is subject to the defendant's means.

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