Armed Forces: Complaints
(asked on 20th April 2023) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many serving and former military personnel have successfully been awarded compensation for injuries related to (a) hearing loss and (b) other ear, nose, and throat problems due to their service in the Armed Forces in each year since 2010.
The number of awards made under either the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) or the War Pension Scheme (WPS) in relation to ‘other injuries related to the ear, nose and throat (ENT)’ is not held due to the broad nature of this area and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below table details the number of the number of claimants that were awarded under the AFCS for hearing loss and the number of claimants who had a first disablement claim awarded under the WPS between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2022 and were awarded for hearing loss. Please note, these figures should be treated as a minimum. Due to the way data is held second claims or appeals awarded for hearing loss cleared after 1 April 2010 have been excluded. Claimants are only eligible to claim under the WPS once they have left service.
Table 1: Number of claimants awarded under the AFCS for hearing loss1 by financial year2 and Number of claimants that had a first disablement claim cleared under the WPS and were awarded for hearing loss1numbers
1 April 2010 – 31 March 2022
Scheme | Financial Year | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
AFCS | Serving personnel3 | 275 | 292 | 307 | 243 | 174 | 168 |
Former service personnel4 | 33 | 59 | 87 | 79 | 95 | 66 | |
WPS | Number of Claimants | 1,196 | 987 | 839 | 1,331 | 917 | 1,019 |
Scheme | Financial Year | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 |
AFCS | Serving personnel3 | 132 | 111 | 54 | 56 | 33 | 30 |
Former service personnel4 | 56 | 35 | 20 | 11 | 9 | 7 | |
WPS | Number of Claimants | 726 | 730 | 568 | 616 | 493 | 586 |
Sources: Compensation and Pension System (CAPS) and Veterans UK Finance Team
1. Hearing loss is awarded under the AFCS Tariff of Injury Tables 7 – Senses. Within this table, there are a number of descriptors for hearing loss which were used to identify relevant awards.
2. Presented by financial year in which initial injury/illness claim was registered.
3. Include in-service claims and medical discharge claims
4. Includes post-service claims
5. Claims awarded for hearing loss were identified based on a free text search of the condition claimed for field in WPCS.
6. Presented by financial year in which the first disablement claim was cleared.
p. There are a number of registered claims from 2017/18 to 2021/22 still awaiting an outcome which may include claims for hearing loss. Information on the conditions claimed for and not available on CAPS prior to a claim being cleared