Lawyer calls proposed compensation cap shameful
Wednesday 11th November 2026 on 18:45 in
Iceland
A lawyer representing people who say they suffered abuse in state-run care as children has called the proposed compensation cap “shameful”. In comments to mbl.is, Snorri Steinn Vidal also criticised the government’s comparison with Norway’s compensation system.
The Prime Minister’s Office published draft legislation on 3 November proposing a permanent compensation scheme for people who suffered abuse or ill-treatment while placed outside their homes as children by the authorities. The consultation period ends on 17 November.
Vidal and fellow lawyer Bjarki Heiðar Bjarnason, both of the law firm Solidum, represent dozens of people who were placed in care as children and suffered serious abuse, including at Bakkakot. In a 12-page submission dated 10 November, they welcomed the draft but called for extensive changes.
The draft proposes three compensation levels: one million, three million and five million Icelandic krónur. The lawyers recommend raising those amounts to three million, six million and 12 million krónur, and allowing payments of up to 21.2 million krónur in especially serious cases.
Vidal said the proposed cap was shameful. Under earlier legislation, the original maximum payment was six million krónur in 2010, equivalent to about 11.6 million krónur at October 2026 prices, according to the lawyers’ calculations. The proposed cap is less than half that amount in real terms, he said.
The lawyers argue that the difference would treat victims unequally when they had suffered comparable abuse, and that this could breach the constitution’s equality principle.
Vidal also challenged the draft’s reliance on Norway as a model. He said compensation there had been paid by both the state and municipalities, with municipal payments added to state compensation in some cases. He argued that the Icelandic draft focuses mainly on payments from the Norwegian state without adequately accounting for municipal compensation, calling this “only half the truth”.
The Icelandic draft proposes that contributions from the state and municipalities go into a shared fund.