Help From Veterans UK - The Reality of AFCS and WPS Claims
What to be aware of
At this firm we never set out to be at odds with Veterans UK. They have a difficult job to do and have suffered like so many other industries from Covid-19.
However we did take exception to the change to their website which seeks to highlight that potential claimants can get free independent advice and want to make you aware that:
[Quote] “If you choose paid representation, we cannot meet the cost of this and you will have to pay these costs yourself. Where someone is representing you on a ‘no-win no-fee’ basis this usually means that they will keep a share of your payment to cover their fees. You may wish to check how much of your payment will go to your representative before you agree to paid representation. [Unquote].
This gives the impression that all you need to do in order to get that compensation is complete the application form, send it in, and wait for the money to land in your bank account. What they fail to highlight, because they’re too busy trying to dissuade you from using professional help to make such a claim, is the numerous obstacles that you will encounter if you ‘go it alone’ with an AFCS or a WPS claim.
Here’s what you’re really up against:
- 30% of servicemen and women need help completing the AFCS/WPS application form because it is too difficult.
- There’s a 7-year limitation period for claiming under the AFCS and, subject to limited circumstances, if you are just one day beyond that time limit your claim can be rejected.
- From our experience 46% of all claims fail at the first attempt by those submitting their applications without professional help.
- 14% of applications fail because the injuries sustained are deemed by the Veterans UK Medical Advisers not to be serious enough.
- 30% of claims fail because Veterans UK decided that the injuries sustained were not caused by military service.
- They have declined claims where someone has suffered ligament damage to an ankle [for example] but recover too quickly.
- They have declined claims for facial scarring because a Medical Adviser didn’t think that they were unsightly or would cause the claimant any emotional trauma.
- They have declined claims for PTSD because the diagnosis was made by an experienced Registrar Psychiatrist but not a Consultant.
- They have declined claims for fractures to the hand, arm, shoulder, legs and feet because although the claimants were downgraded and took months to recover they did not need surgery so were not deemed serious enough.
- They have declined claims in circumstances where the claimants were not technically on duty even though all the evidence points to the contrary.
- They impose extremely difficult conditions for sports injury claims where they ask for paperwork that is virtually impossible to secure and rarely [if ever] give the claimants the benefit of the doubt.
- They routinely decline claims for personnel who have been seriously injured if they slip, trip or fall even if they are at work, walking to work, or trip over a hazard on the base.
- They regularly decline claims where a serviceman or woman has clearly been injured and shown that this was due to their service, have been medically downgraded, and even admitted for surgery - Veterans UK refuse to make an award because there is no specific diagnosis.
- They review the medical records of a claimant with the incisiveness of a surgeon and there is nothing wrong with that. However, if they can find the most fleeting reference to an injury 20 years earlier, even back to childhood, which relates to the same area of the body as the current claim then they can decline it on the basis that it is a pre-existing injury.
Some of our clients would argue that Veterans UK is inconsistent because they are presented with two claims with identical injuries, even caused in the same manner, and yet they award the first claim and decline the second. When challenged they respond with “Veterans UK does not comment on individual cases.”
Some people believe that the reason so many appeals fail is that the Medical Adviser reviewing the Application for Reconsideration is hardly going to overturn the decision of the Medical Adviser who made the original decision when they are work colleagues working in the same office!
You get what you pay for
Just for the record, and so there is no misunderstanding, we recognise that Veterans UK has a difficult job to do and we generally have a good working relationship with their ‘front of house’ team. However, please do not run away with the idea that they are going to go out of their way to help find a way of paying you that compensation. They are there to use the Regulations, which in our opinion are stacked heavily against the claimants, and the result is that claims are often declined on a technicality.
The fact that there is ‘free’ and ‘impartial’ advice is a lovely concept, but as is so often in life, you get what you pay for. The fact that something is free doesn’t make it the best option and paying 20% of something is better than receiving 100% of nothing.
At Military Injury we’ve been through the most rigorous, demanding, and costly application to trade in this environment when we were investigated by the Government Financial Conduct Authority. We didn’t receive full authorisation to work as a Claims Management Company because we’re amateurs and don’t know what we’re doing.
We’ve served in the UK Armed Forces, we have legal qualifications and have specialised in cases involving the military and the medical profession. We have many years of experience working in private practice and 15 years of advising and processing claims under both the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and the War Pension Scheme.
Our record speaks for itself and we have hundreds of ‘real’ servicemen and women who would gladly stand up and provide a reference for us, confirming our ability to succeed.