ARMED FORCES
COMPENSATION
&
WAR PENSION CLAIMS
It can be difficult to submit a claim for compensation, as you do not know how prior injuries are going to affect you later in life. Although they may be documented on your medical records, there are certain time constraints that you must adhere to, and you have to submit a claim within 7 years of the earliest of the following dates:
- The date of the incident leading to the injury or illness.
- The date on which an injury or illness not caused by service was made worse by service.
- In the case of illness, the date of first seeking medical advice for that illness.
- The date of discharge.
Where there are time limits, above all you should submit a claim for compensation at a time which is best for you. There are certain circumstances when a claim will be accepted outside the time limits above such as being prevented from claiming due to ill health or your illness occurring later. You must contact
Veterans UK
to obtain advice on this. To make a claim for compensation or a War Pension visit the following:
Armed Forces Compensation Claim Journey.
If you are Medically discharged from His Majesty's Armed Forces, your service documents may be referred to Veterans UK. In certain circumstances, you may be automatically considered to an award under the scheme, where you do not have to do anything. They will only consider any injury, illness or disease identified as the main reason for your medical discharge. You must report any changes to your circumstances to
Veterans UK, as this could affect your entitlement to compensation or your War Pension. You can now use the
Online Claim Service
to claim Compensation or a War Pension.
Veterans
UK
is the body responsible for administering compensation and pension schemes for serving personnel, veterans, and their families. The War Pension is a compensation scheme for veterans for any injury or illness which has been caused by or made worse by their service in His Majesty’s Armed Forces.
Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is not a latent condition and if you were exposed during your military service, to make a compensation claim with a law firm you must issue proceedings within 3 years of the date of knowledge that your injury is significant and you also have to prove that it is attributable to the alleged exposure or negligence.
Claims for compensation with
Veterans UK
are meant to take up to 6 months, but it depends on the level of injury. If the injury is not documented on your military medical records, or if it is more than 3 years since you first became aware of the injury and reported it to your GP, then you will have great difficulty in finding legal representation. Below are some Law firms who specialise with compensation claims for injuries/illness's sustained during military service. Here are just some organisations who offer help and assistance in completing the War pension application forms: The
RBL,
Veterans Gateway,
Veterans Welfare Service,
Forces Online Charity,
The Baton
and
Help For Heroes.
War widows who were forced to give up their pensions after their spouse died will receive a lump sum compensation payment of nearly £90,000 after a long-running campaign. The compensation scheme will benefit the widows of
military personnel who died as part of their service but later remarried or moved in with a partner. Between 1973 and 2015, this group of people were forced to give up their "lifelong" War Widow pension when they began a new relationship. However, the pension rules changed in 2015 and they no longer needed to do this - however, the rule was not backdated and a few hundred people were not set to be reimbursed the money they lost. The Government confirmed last week that those affected by this would receive a one off lump sum payment of £87,500 to make up for the lost income. The payments will come through a joint initiative from the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury.
