Farleys Secure £263,000 for Rochdale Grooming Survivor After Initial £16,500 Offer

Client S has been awarded £263,000 by the CICA for historic abuse, after 10-year ongoing claim.

Client S is a survivor of child sexual exploitation and serious sexual abuse, having been groomed and abused by gangs in Rochdale between the ages of 14-17. Client S and other survivors gave evidence in a criminal trial, which resulted in the high-profile prosecution of various offenders.

Jonathan Bridge first dealt with a claim against Rochdale Council for Client S, where she received £45,000 in 2015, for negligence, breach of duty, and breach of Human Rights. The CICA claim was also submitted in 2015.

The claim was technically submitted out of time due to the CICA’s ‘two-year rule’. This is where a claim must be submitted within 2 years of reporting the incident to the police. As the abuse occurred when Client S was a child, this meant that the claim should have been submitted by her 20^th birthday.

Farleys provided to the CICA evidence from a psychiatric expert, which detailed that Client S was not able to bring the claim sooner and required support when submitting the claim. Farleys also provided to the CICA a statement from Client S’s support worker, which detailed the difficulties that Client S had when discussing the abuse and dealing with the claim.

The CICA subsequently accepted that Client S had good reasons for not bringing the claim sooner and requested details of the civil claim. This was provided to the CICA. Following this, Farleys regularly contacted the CICA for an update on the claim and kept Client S updated on the claim.

In 2018, the CICA requested medical records of Client S. The records were obtained and provided to the CICA, as well as crisis intervention records. These records confirmed that Client S was suffering psychiatric injury because of the abuse, which included depression and anxiety. The records also confirmed that Client S was unable to work due to the abuse.

In 2019 Jonathan Bridge met with Client S further, and it was agreed that an updated psychiatric report would be commissioned so that a psychiatric diagnosis could be made. The expert was also asked to comment on Client S’ ability to work in the future.

Whilst the report was being arranged, Client S received an offer from the CICA in December 2019. The offer was an award of £16,500. The offer failed to account for the full extent of Client S’ psychiatric injury and failed to compensate her for the loss of earnings she suffered due to being unable to work.

On this basis, a review application was submitted to the CICA. Updated medical records were applied for, however there was a significant delay in receiving these. Farleys’ abuse claims specialists regularly chased these records, and eventually a formal complaint had to be submitted to the GP.

Records were eventually received, and Client S underwent a further assessment with the psychiatric expert at the beginning of 2022. The report was received some months later, and it was supportive of the claim. Client S was found to have Complex PTSD and would be unable to work in the future due to the abuse that she had suffered.

A copy of the report was provided to the CICA in support of the claim. In the meantime, DWP and HMRC records were obtained to support a loss of earnings claim. The abuse team reviewed these records, which confirmed that Client S was unable to work. Jonathan Bridge then prepared a Schedule of Loss which quantified the claim and set out how much Farleys believed Client S should be awarded from the CICA.

The Schedule of Loss was sent to the CICA in 2022. Following this, there was a period of significant delay from the CICA whilst they reviewed the matter. Farleys kept in regular contact with the CICA, requesting updates on the next stages from the CICA.

In October 2024, the CICA requested details about the civil claim, which were provided by Jonathan Bridge. The abuse team then regularly chased the CICA for updates and kept Client S updated on the status of the claim.

Eventually, in March 2025, Client S received an offer of £262,032.10. To avoid ‘double recovery’ a total of £22,000 was deducted, which represented half of the total Client S received in the Civil Claim.

After considering the offer with Jonathan Bridge, Client S accepted the offer of £241,032.10.

Contact a Specialist in Abuse Claims

Farleys abuse claims specialists understand that it may be difficult to talk about your experiences of child abuse. Whenever you’re ready, they’re here to discuss your claim in confidence, either over the phone via our dedicated abuse line on 0330 134 6430 or by email through our online contact form, whichever you prefer.