Military Injury Claims

A military injury claim, also known as an army injury claim or military negligence claim, is a legal process where a member of the armed forces makes a claim against the MoD for an injury suffered during their service.

If your military injury claim is successful, you will be awarded financial compensation. You may also be able to access additional rehabilitative support for your injury.

Our military injury solicitors can help you make a claim for compensation.

When you contact Thompsons, we will support you through every stage of your claim. We will guide you through the legal process and fight for you to receive the maximum compensation possible.

If you’ve suffered a military injury that you believe wasn’t your fault, contact Thompsons Solicitors’ military injury experts today to discuss your options for making a claim.

Call 0800 0 224 224, request a call back or fill in our online claim form.

If you have been hurt during your military service, here are some things you can do to make your military injury claim as strong as possible:

1. Seek medical treatment immediately and take photographs of your injuries if possible.
2. Report your injury or illness to the military as soon as it occurs.
3. Contact Thompsons for expert, no-obligation legal advice.
4. Collect the contact details of witnesses.
5. Keep a record of any costs you incur because of your injury.

There are various ways to fund a military negligence claim.

If you are part of a trade union, you can make a claim through your union’s legal service.

If you are not a trade union member, Thompsons Solicitors’ experts can help you make your injury claim on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis. A no win, no fee arrangement means you only make a limited contribution to our costs if you win, and you’ll pay nothing if your claim is unsuccessful.

Thompsons Solicitors is always honest and upfront about legal fees – you will not incur any hidden costs when pursuing personal injury claims with us.

You can make a military negligence claim for injuries suffered while serving with the army, navy or RAF, including the reserve forces.

Military or army injury compensation claims can be made for injuries sustained during training exercises or active duty.

Types of injury you can claim for include:

• Injuries caused by the negligent discharge of firearms.
• Non-freezing cold injury (sometimes known as trench foot).
• Freezing cold injury (also known as frostbite).
• Falls from height.
• Injuries caused in military vehicle accidents.

Yes. If you are a serving or former member of the military and believe that you have been injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, our experts can help determine whether you can make a military or army injury claim.

We recommend that you contact Thompsons Solicitors as soon as possible, so that we can work with you to establish the facts of the case and provide legal advice.

Yes. Personal injury compensation claims through the civil courts must be started within three years of sustaining an injury.

For both civil claims and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme claims, if your injury or illness is not immediately apparent, you have three years to claim from the date you become aware of it. In some cases, such as an asbestos-related disease, this could be many years after your service.

The first difference between civil military injury claims and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) claims is who the claim is submitted to. A military or army injury compensation claim is made through the civil courts, whereas the AFCS claim is managed by the MoD.

The second difference is whether anyone is found at fault for your injury or illness. Civil claims determine whether the MoD was legally at fault for your injuries, whereas the AFCS operates a ‘non-fault’ system.

Lastly, there are differences in how compensation is awarded and how much you are likely to receive.

The AFCS pays compensation based on a tariff system. A civil claim is not constrained by such a tariff and will consider the full impact of your injuries in every aspect of your life. From our experience, civil claims tend to attract significantly higher awards of compensation.

We usually advise our military injury clients to progress both claims initially; however, you cannot be compensated twice for the same injuries.

If you make a civil claim, you will have to declare any compensation received from the AFCS and this will be taken into account when deciding how much compensation you should receive.

You do not have to leave the military to make a claim – this is a myth which has disadvantaged service personnel for years.

Because of the strict time limits around making a claim, it is vital that injured service personnel seek legal advice as soon as possible following an injury. Waiting until you have left military service to bring your case may mean that you are over the time limit and can no longer claim.

Compensation amounts vary from case to case.

Generally, the more severe and life-changing the injury, the more compensation you can expect to receive.

Our military injury solicitors will be able to give you a good idea of how much compensation you could secure after reviewing the details of your military injury case.

To discuss your case with one of our lawyers, ask one of our experts to call you back or fill in our no obligation claim form.