The families of the "disappeared" who were murdered by terrorist organisations in the North are set to receive up to £10,000 sterling compensation from the British government, under recommendations outlined by the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson.
The British government has accepted the recommendation set down in the Review of Criminal Injuries Compensation, led by Victims Commissioner Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, which reported in July last year.
It is expected the compensation will be available in April next year and legislation to implement changes in the overall compensation scheme will be enacted in 2002.
The payments to the families of the "disappeared" will be made separately from any money paid out under the Criminal Injuries Compensation scheme.
Outlining the British government's response to the report, Mr Mandelson said that after "careful consideration" he had accepted the majority of its 64 recommendations, with some amendments.
Mr Mandelson said that in accepting two thirds of Sir Kenneth's recommendations the British government believed they would create "the best way to ensure for the future a fair and equitable system of criminal injuries compensation which will recognise the suffering of innocent victims of violent crime".
The major structural change in compensation payments will be the introduction of a tariff-based scheme for victims of terrorist violence whereby the tariff will be calculated on the average value of compensation awards in Northern Ireland, which was £5,531 in the period 1999/2000.
Award limits will be assessed every three years and it is proposed that under the tariff system it would no longer be necessary for the Criminal Injuries Compensation scheme to pay claimants' legal fees.
These will be picked up instead by Victim Support in Northern Ireland.
The issue of inadequate financial assistance to past victims of violence in Northern Ireland was also addressed in Sir Kenneth's report.
However, Mr Mandelson said he had rejected the proposal to provide additional compensation directly to those families and instead extra financial aid would be distributed to the families through various organisations, including the Northern Ireland Memorial Fund which is part of the Northern Ireland Office.
It is also proposed by the British government that people who were previously barred from making compensation claims because they were members of a terrorist organisation or engaged in acts of terrorism could have their cases assessed under a "penalty points" scheme.
A new compensation scheme would be able to take into consideration factors including rehabilitation, the length of sentence served and the time elapsed since the conviction in deciding whether compensation should be paid.
Paul Tanney in Belfast writes: The president of the Law Society of Northern Ireland, Mr John Meehan, said the proposed new tariff system had been thoroughly discredited elsewhere and represented a proposal to deprive victims of legal assistance in processing claims.
"Whatever else is positive in these reforms, it is clear that, as acknowledged by the Bloomfield Report, the tariff system is essentially about cutting the compensation levels rather than protecting victims' interests," he said.
"The tariff proposal and the related proposal to deprive victims of expert legal assistance are wrong."