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The British Army and Injury CompensationCan the Government Regain the Trust of the Armed Forces and People?
With Afghanistan becoming more dangerous and morale low will new government promises be enough to placate both the Armed Forces and the public?
As the British Armed Forces continue their fight against the Taleban there was welcome news from the House of Commons on Thursday where the Defence Secretary Des Browne presented a Government paper pledging to improve the lives of Britain’s service personnel. Foremost in this commitment is the news that the compensation packages that are provided for wounded soldiers “will be doubled for the most serious injuries”[1]. In purely fiscal terms this means that a soldier who would have been offered £285,000 for wounds such as severe burns or the loss of a limb will now receive up to £570,000 alongside his annual tax-free guaranteed income. However, the decision by the Government to introduce these and the other reforms contained in the Service Personnel Command Paper such as provisions for soldier’s prosthetic limbs to be covered by the NHS and improvements in MOD housing standards is worth far more than any monetary increase at a time when many believe that those fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan have been badly let down by the current administration. This feeling is something that has been highlighted recently by the Royal British Legion’s Honour the Covenant campaign, their main accusation being of that the Government is not keeping it’s end of the bargain in it’s unwritten agreement with the military to provide the best treatment in return for their sacrifices. The deaths of fourteen military personnel aboard a Nimrod from a fleet that a Coroner later said should have been grounded and the lack of armoured vehicles for combat infantry are just two examples of where the Government appears to have failed the Armed Forces in recent years and this is something that many grieving relatives and members of the public find difficult to accept. As well as this, the mood in the military was recently gauged by the results of the Forces Continuous Attitude Survey, which were released on the 9th July, and was found to be more disillusioned than expected. Although pride in the Forces remains high, many serving personnel across all three arms of the Services stated that they felt like quitting and that morale was suffering with at least 59% of those who responded in all three services stating that morale was either low or very low[2]. It does then seem distressingly symptomatic of the situation that on the same day that these results were released nine soldiers from the Parachute Regiment were injured when a British Apache gunship attacked their position by accident. However, today’s paper shows that the Government is responding to the fact that many feel let down by their actions and that they are making these conciliatory moves could yet regain them the trust and support of both the Armed Forces and those who support them. Following Thursday’s announcement in which Des Browne said that Britain should “aim to offer the best possible continuous care” to injured personnel the Royal British Legion’s Director said that “the Covenant is being brought back into balance” and that the Government deserved “credit for listening to our concerns”[3]. This feeling was also echoed by soldiers and their families, particularly those who have been fighting for some time to have the seriousness of their injuries accepted by the Ministry of Defence. Indeed, the last few months also saw the Government improve the rate of pay for Armed Forces personnel by 2.6% whilst holding back on many other public sector workers such as teachers. However, even this has sparked debate, with many saying that it is simply not enough to make up for the sacrifices which Britain’s thinly stretched Armed Forces are being required to make. This shows that whilst the measures which today’s paper promises are being well received then, it remains to be seen if they will be enough to satisfy some of the Government’s critics. [1] The Service Personnel Command Paper, Section 2.5a, pg 12’, [2] The BBC News Website, Accessed 17th July 2008 [3] The British Legion Website, Accessed 17th July 2008
The copyright of the article The British Army and Injury Compensation in British/UK Affairs is owned by Rupert Sutton. Permission to republish The British Army and Injury Compensation in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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