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Written question asked by Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative) on Tuesday, 8 April 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 22 April 2025. It was answered by Al Carns (Labour) on Wednesday, 23 April 2025 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Protective Clothing

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what change there has been in the cost of hearing loss compensation claims since the implementation of the Tactical Hearing Protection System in each financial year.

Answer

The implementation of the Tactical Hearing Protection System programme took place between April 2015 and September 2016.

The supporting table below shows the total number of initial injury/illness claims cleared under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2024 with a condition awarded for hearing loss by financial year, and the corresponding payment amounts.

The Ministry of Defence publishes annual statistics for the AFCS on the GOV.UK website. The latest publication was on 18 July 2024 using data extracted from the Compensation and Pension System (CAPS) as at 31 March 2024: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/armed-forces-compensation-scheme-statistics-index

Table 1: Total initial injury/illness claims cleared under the AFCS with a condition awarded for hearing loss by financial year1, numbers and £2,3

1 April 2013 - 31 March 2024

Financial Year

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

2022-23

2023-24

Total Awarded

438

301

292

186

158

102

71

54

60

119

117

Lump Sum Amounts

£3,293,900

£2,026,000

£2,102,900

£1,378,000

£1,130,900

£835,300

£707,300

£362,700

£380,800

£763,900

£752,600

Guaranteed Income Payments

£2,233,800

£906,900

£773,300

£768,600

£391,300

£269,300

£422,900

£58,600

£0

£17,100

£7,300


Source: Compensation and Pension System (CAPS), Veterans UK Finance Team

  1. By financial year which the initial claim was cleared. If a claim had subsequent activity (a reconsideration, appeal and/or review) which led to an increase in awarded tariff, the claim is presented in the financial year the initial claim was cleared.
  2. Expenditure amounts awarded have been rounded to the nearest hundred. Includes accrued expenditure for claims awarded but were still to be processed and paid.
  3. Multiple injuries/illnesses can be awarded under one claim. Lump sum compensation: only the lump sum amount awarded under the Senses tariff of injury table within the claim for a hearing loss related tariff. Guaranteed Income Payment (GIP): total GIP amount paid, to date, for the whole awarded claim if hearing loss was the highest awarded condition; this is due to the methodology behind GIP calculations.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
45198
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Compensation Armed forces Costs Hearing impairment Injuries Protective clothing
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk