About the scheme

The scheme was introduced to support people who experienced abuse while placed by Islington Council in its children's homes between 1966 to 1995. 

The scheme offered a straightforward way for eligible survivors to apply for a support payment of £10,000 and minimise the need to relive past trauma or the risk of further trauma or harm.

We understand that recounting experiences of abuse may be difficult and there is support available to help you, if you would like. You can find out about the range of specialist support on Islington Council’s website.

Duration

The scheme opened on 31 May 2022 and closed on 31 May 2024.

Benefits

The council has secured the necessary agreement that payments received from this scheme will not be taken into account for the purposes of calculating entitlement benefits administered by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

Prior / subsequent civil compensation payments

The scheme was not a compensation or redress scheme. It sat alongside the existing civil compensation route, and did not replace it. It has no bearing on any civil compensation claims that abuse survivors may make for except that, in order to ensure fairness and compliance with the council's constitutional requirements, a scheme payment would be offset against any later civil compensation payment. Any previous civil compensation payment would be offset against a scheme payment.

Confidentiality and data protection

Your personal information which you have provided will only be used:

• to make a decision on your support payment application
• for fraud prevention
• to protect your safety if we are concerned about your wellbeing
• for anonymised reporting purposes.

We will be required to share your information with the scheme’s independent legal provider DAC Beachcroft LLP who will deal with applications in conjunction with the council. If your application is referred to the Independent Appeal Panel at any stage, we will be required to share your information with the panel.

We may be required to pass information provided by you to the police if we need to obtain information from them about alleged and/or known abusers and by submitting this application you agree for us to do so.

We may also have to pass on your contact details to the police or other organisations, without your agreement, if we believe there is a safeguarding concern, or someone is at risk of serious harm.

We will always keep your information confidential and will not disclose any information provided by you to any organisation except as set out above or if required by law. Your information will be held for 6 years, in line with the council’s retention policy.

For further information on how your information is used, how long it’s kept for, how we maintain the security of your information and your rights to access information we hold on you, email: DP@islington.gov.uk.

Care records

You can apply for your childhood care records if you would like to see them. To do this, you need to submit a 'subject access request' on Islington Council's website.