I have recently been contacted by constituents about a Royal British Legion campaign which is advocating for veterans who, compared to their civilian counterparts, lose out financially when they receive compensation.
As you may already be aware, over 150,000 veterans and their families, including many here in the East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency, receive compensation for pain and loss endured in the line of duty when serving our country. However, the majority of local councils treat this compensation as income, meaning veterans lose out on benefits while comparable compensation paid to civilians is treated more favourably.
I have taken the opportunity to raise this issue directly with my colleague James Cartlidge MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, who wrote back to me saying,
‘I appreciate … concerns regarding compensation for veterans and the completely reasonable expectation for civilians and veterans to be treated fairly, as encapsulated in the Armed Forces Covenant, which the Government are now enshrining into law. As a shadow defence team, we have been closely involved with matters surrounding veterans’ affairs and their overall impact on the central issue of recruitment and retention.
It is also worth noting that the issue of taxing compensation for veterans featured in the Conservative 2024 manifesto, in which we pledged to bring forward measures so that War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme awards were not counted as income for the purpose of benefits and pensions (page 31). ‘
The Shadow Defence Minister will also be tabling a series of written questions on this matter and is happy to share the Government’s responses with me when they are received. I am also aware veterans in receipt of compensation have questions about Pension Credit and I have ensured my relevant front bench colleagues are aware of these.
