Forum Brief: War pensions

The Ministry of Defence has unveiled reforms to the system of war pensions.

Under the proposals, unmarried and homosexual partners of forces personnel will receive the same rights of compensation and pensions as widows and widowers.

Forum Response: The Royal British Legion

Tom House, head of pensions at the Royal British Legion, said: "We applaud some elements of the new scheme, particularly in the areas of provision for unmarried partners, and the continuation of benefits if that partner remarries.

"But in effect this just brings the MoD into line with other pension schemes outside the military. The important thing to note with this new scheme is that it's cost neutral, so the majority of ex-service people will be negatively affected.

"I would have to say that 70 percent of the members of the ex-service community that currently come to the Royal British Legion for representation are out of the five year time limit.

"This is for a variety of reasons: most people don't have an awareness of what they may be entitled to, or a condition has not made itself apparent as yet, or they have applied through the MoD for compensation and been rejected before coming to the Legion for free representation.

"If this new scheme is put into effect there may be thousands of cases of members of the services who served in the last Gulf War conflict that are now out of time to claim for injuries sustained.

"We believe it's incredibly insensitive of the Ministry of Defence to make this announcement just one week after sending another 1200 of our troops off to war in Iraq. What assurance have they that their government will look after them if they're injured or killed?

"The Royal British Legion has been fighting to secure decent war and disability pensions for our heroes since 1921. We now feel that we're back to square one."

Forum Response: Help the Aged

Mervyn Kohler, head of public affairs at Help the Aged, told ePolitix.com: "The dramatic and appropriate increases in the benefits for those who die in service, and the inclusion of unmarried and gay and lesbian partners, is welcome, but since the package is cost-neutral, it is important to identify who will lose out.

"These seem to be the many people disabled in service, who face a new interpretation of their disabilities, and people who do not make a claim for disabilities sustained within five years of the event.

"This will be a very significant number of service men and women, and we must question the thrust of this policy."