Miscarriage-of-justice compensation still requires proof of innocence, decided inside the MoJ

Section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, as amended in 2014, pays compensation only to quashed-conviction applicants who prove innocence beyond reasonable doubt, a test the vast majority of exonerees fail, decided by the Justice Secretary through an internal MoJ assessor and capped at £1m. Andrew Malkinson's case exposed the test and the absence of any support service for the newly exonerated. The Law Commission's criminal appeals consultation proposes a balance-of-probabilities test, and it will publish a standalone report on compensation and support for the wrongly convicted by the end of 2026, with the main report early in 2027. No government commitment to implement exists, and no body independent of the department whose system caused the wrong assesses claims. APPEAL and the Westminster Commission have proposed reform, and no institution owns it.

People who lose decades to wrongful conviction routinely leave prison with no compensation, housing or support. A state that compensates almost no one it wrongly imprisoned corrodes confidence in the whole appeals system, and it removes any financial signal of system failure.

Amend section 133 to a balance-of-probabilities test and uprate or remove the £1m cap, with the Law Commission's end-2026 report as the blueprint. Create an independent compensation body outside the MoJ and a statutory resettlement and support service for exonerees.

// State-led: Instrument: s.133 CJA 1988 amendment and independent compensation body; Law Commission end-2026 report supplies the blueprint.

Exonerees must prove innocence to a department-run assessor and leave prison unsupported, and the Law Commission's blueprint is due at the end of 2026 with no commitment to implement it.