The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) was introduced on 6 April 2005. It replaces the existing War Pension Scheme and the attributable benefits of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS) for injuries, illnesses or death caused on or after 6 April 2005.

The AFCS will cover all regular members of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Air Forces, Army and members of the Reserve Forces as defined in the Reserve Forces Act 1996 and their dependants. It will provide compensation for disablement or death due to:

Incidents, which were the direct consequence of a person's duties in the Armed Forces.

Terrorism and Warlike activities .Negligence by the MoD as an employer

• Attributable death in service
• Attributable injury or illness in Service resulting in a medical discharge
• Attributable injury or illness in Service not resulting in a medical discharge
• Attributable conditions or death occurring after leaving Service but claimed before five years
• Attributable conditions or death, which may develop at a later date (such as some cancers) with no time limit. (For details of the exceptions list of illnesses please contact the Veterans Agency Help line)
• Pre-existing conditions which are significantly aggravated by Service

It will provide a tariff-based lump sum award for pain and suffering. These are designed to take into account the expected amount of deterioration for a medical condition. There are 15 levels of award which are as follows:

• Tariffs 1-4 100%
• Tariffs 5,6 75%
• Tariffs 7,8 50%
• Tariffs 9-11 30% .
• Tariffs 12-15 None

For further information on the conditions included in the tariffs and the amount of award, please contact the Veterans Agency Help line.

For ex-Service personnel it will offer a Guaranteed Income Stream (GIS) for life if the client is assessed at a higher tariff (1-11 ) to compensate for any loss of earnings. Attributable benefits in retirement for members will remain tax-free. For the first time, in-service awards for injury will be paid for pain and suffering. The scheme will use a similar standard of proof as in civil claims, known as the 'balance of probabilities'. This means that if an appeal results in a tribunal, the tribunal only needs to be satisfied that it is more likely than not that the applicants case is proven. There will generally be a time limit of five years from the incident or after retirement where no particular incident caused the condition. There will be an exceptions list in order that some claimants will be able to claim outside the time limit. There will be no regular review mechanism other than in exceptional cases. For further information on this please contact the Veterans Agency on 0800 169 22 77. The scheme is designed to be a 'no-fault' scheme, which effectively means that a claim against the scheme would not prevent anyone from making a claim for negligence against the MoD.

For the first time widow (er} s and partners including same-sex partners in a substantial relationship are to be treated equally for compensation purposes, For an attributable death, a taxable Guaranteed Income Stream (GIS) will be awarded to the surviving partner to compensate for the loss of the spouse's/partner's earnings. Dependent children will also qualify for GIS, which may stop when the child reaches 17. The client can still continue to receive it if the child is in full-time education. They may also continue to qualify if a child is unable to support himself financially due to a mental or physical disability that has been diagnosed before he/she is 17.

As before, if you feel you have a reason to challenge a decision about the claim, you should seek advice from either an ex-Service organisation such as the Royal British Legion or an advice centre.

An internal Appeals Process will allow you to challenge a decision taken by the scheme administrators if you think they are wrong. This will begin with an Internal Dispute Resolution Process followed by the right to appeal to the Pensions Appeal Tribunal (PAT) and then to the Social Security Commissioners. Under the new scheme you can appeal if your claim is not successful, you are unhappy about the level of your award, you disagree with a decision not to waive time limits or you disagree with a decision on the grounds of deterioration. You should dispute a decision and apply for a review within 90 days of notification. If your grounds for appeal are accepted and the case is reviewed, and you are not satisfied with the review decision, you can further challenge this within 30 days of PAT. Under the new scheme you may be able to appeal a decision made by the PAT on a point of law to the Social Security Commissioners who consist of experienced judges. This aims to bring the appeals process in line with modem tribunals policy. Claims under the new Armed Forces Compensation Scheme will be processed by administrators at the Veterans Agency who will have access to specialist medical and legal advisors should it be required. For further information please contact the Veterans Agency on 0800 16922 77 or visit their website at

Alternatively you can visit the Ministry of Defence website at