Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the factors responsible for delays in processing injured Armed Forces veterans' War Pension and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme claims.

The combined effects of the implementation of the Boyce Review on the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and the increase in the number of applications for War Disablement Pension, as a result of more people with pre-April 2005 Service reaching the end of their engagement, led to delays in processing prospective claims for these schemes.

Actions were therefore put in place which had the effect of reducing the on-hand cases in the AFCS by half and the programme has returned to target. In War Disablement Pension the on-hand cases have fallen by 35% and waiting times have reduced.

The average length of time taken to process War Pension and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme claims since 2010 can be found below:

WAR PENSIONS SCHEME

2010-11 - 39 working days

2011-12 - 51 working days

2012-13 - 82 working days

2013-14 - 110 working days

2014-15 (as at 21 October 2014) - 103 working days

ARMED FORCES COMPENSATION SCHEME

2010-11 - 93 working days

2011-12 - 125 working days

2012-13 - 164 working days

2013-14 - 109 working days

2014-15 (as at 21 October 2014) - 89 working days