The Bereaved Nearest Relatives’ Fund

From the 1^st August 2008 this fund is administered by Victim Information and Advice service (VIA), part of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and will include families bereaved by a road death where the death is mentioned in the resulting charge. The Fund will help towards the expenses of family members who are not witnesses attending court. It covers accommodation, travel, subsistence and child-minding and carers' expenses but not loss of earnings.

The impetus to extend the fund came from a number of sources –

1. Recommendation from the Road Death Working Group of which SCID was a part. This group was set up primarily to review the information pack for families bereaved by a road death.

2. The Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland’s "Death Cases: A Thematic Report on Liaison in Death Cases" published in July 2007; and

3. Feedback from VIA staff dealing with families bereaved by both homicide and road deaths.

The fund will apply to road death cases only where a death is mentioned in the charge - causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs, and the new offences of causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving and causing death by driving: unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured drivers.

VIA staff will identify eligible cases and discuss the Fund with the families involved.