Serving soldiers and veterans have been left feeling “helpless and deflated” by an “adversarial” system that “lacks humanity”, the Telegraph said. Critics say the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) is “harming people” and leaving them with “absolutely no trust or respect for the process”. Introduced in 2005, AFCS provides lump sum and monthly payments for any injury, illness or death caused by military service.
The “flawed” system downplays injuries
However, some seeking help from the scheme have complained of long delays, a lack of help from the Department of Health and a “flawed” system that at times seeks to downplay injuries in order to minimize financial payouts. A current serving officer with 26 years of service was subjected to derogatory and insulting comments about his ethnicity and intelligence during a consultation with a political panel advising the Ministry of Defense on his claim for AFCS. During a 10-minute break in the online meeting, the legal team forgot to mute their microphones, during which the officer heard them mocking his defense of his claim. “They laughed and said, well, he’s Welsh. He doesn’t understand why he’s here. He can’t be that smart as he doesn’t know why he’s here,’ the officer told The Telegraph. The case was described as “kicking the can down the road” with one panel member adding “if he knows what’s best he should withdraw the claim”, the claimant said. Referring to a previous injury when the officer blew himself up in Afghanistan in 2009, one panel member said it “didn’t look like [he’d] he had a blast injury,” a comment that made other board members laugh, the officer said. The committee then proceeded to discuss sensitive information relating to other individuals.
“Derogatory and discriminatory”
At one point the judge remarked that it was a good job the conversation was not recorded. “To hear what they had to say about me in a derogatory and discriminatory way was unacceptable,” the officer said. “I have never felt so undervalued in my life. I was angry and felt completely let down by the very system designed to support our wounded soldiers. “I was lucky enough – or unlucky – to hear what a standard panel of professional board members had to say about me in a court of law.” He said he feared for other soldiers going through the same process “ignoring what was reported during their 10-minute reprieve”. The President of Chambers then wrote to the officer and apologized for the “unfortunate incident” during the adjournment. In a letter to the officer on August 9, seen by The Telegraph, the Chamber President said: “I am very sorry for what has happened and apologize for the offense caused to you… It sounds, from what I have been told so far, that we have lose today”.
“Deflated, shocked and appalled”
The officer responded that the hearing had left him “deflated, shocked and appalled” and now had “absolutely no confidence or respect for the process”. Other plaintiffs claim the system is designed to downplay injuries to minimize the Department of Health’s liability. James Hill, 40, a former Royal Marine, was shot dead in Afghanistan during a raid on a Taliban compound. His injury was initially described as a broken leg. In fact, his hip had been broken by a high-velocity bullet, which led to internal complications and months of treatment. He received an adequate financial award only after seven years of haggling, during which he had paid for his own legal advice.
“I tried to save a few pennies”
“The Foreign Office did not do their job and tried to save a few pennies. Fortunately, I found someone to fight my corner,” Mr. Hill said. “The process does a lot of damage to people. The confusion and drama is crazy. There is no one to contact or talk to. you never knew where your claim was, it just seemed to be stuck on someone’s desk. “Many young people think about this and abandon their claims. The system is flawed.” With no one from AFCS offering advice on how to complete the claim forms, which require specific language to go ahead, James said the inevitable delays were “incredible”. He had to return repeatedly to his surgeon to compare the final AFCS medical findings with his medical notes. In the end he had to pay for a lawyer out of pocket to try his case. “Guys with families and mortgages are at a waiting age. Some people without control or direction find it very difficult. “The process takes so long that they can find themselves in financial trouble waiting for the payments to go through.” Unqualified “medical advisers” commenting on his surgeon’s professional assessments were “so wrong”, he said. “They lack medical knowledge. Some answers were completely wrong.”
“An adversarial process”
The head of a veterans’ charity said: ‘The bottom line is this [AFCS] it is an adversarial process: the individual against the system’. He said AFCS staff seek to “create a reasonable doubt in the judge’s mind that the reason you are broke is not because of your military service.” “The process dehumanizes our veterans and breaks the bond with what has defined their identity for years. “The duty of care that we are all used to in the armed forces does not extend to the AFCS process.” The way the system treats veterans is “losing people,” he said. “Decisions are delivered without any thought to the impact of words: flat, impersonal, legalistic without humanity.” The AFCS is set to be overhauled later this year for the first time since 2017, with calls to move it from the State Department to the newly formed Veterans Affairs Office.
“Too many bad results”
Critics say AFCS is an “underinvested department” of the State Department, with “too many bad results for something not to be systematically wrong.” Amanda Marsh, a specialist military injury lawyer specializing in AFCS claims, said: “We believe there are many opportunities to improve the AFCS system to enable veterans to receive a fairer service. “We regularly see problems with claims not being assessed at the correct level, meaning injured service personnel are not being compensated for their injuries. From the claims we’ve made, this is common with PTSD, which can be a devastating issue for people for the rest of their lives. “We have shared our concerns with the Office of Veterans Affairs and hope that improvements will be made to ensure that the people who serve our country are treated as fairly as possible.” A Department for Development spokesman said: “We care deeply about supporting our people throughout their service and beyond. They make remarkable sacrifices in defense of this country, and we are committed to providing them with the best possible service. “Where we fall short of our own standards, we will listen to people’s concerns and act as necessary. “Compensation claims are not decided lightly and require careful consideration of many complex factors, including medical histories and types of service, often requiring extensive correspondence with the claimant and multiple agencies.”
