AFCS and War Pension Schemes

If you have suffered an injury as a result of your service, then you may have a claim for compensation.

The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) is a government run scheme which provides compensation for any service related injury, illness or death that has occurred since 6^th April 2005. You can also claim for an award if you have an injury or illness that has been made worse by service. 

You can apply for compensation while you are still serving or having left service, so long as you are within the time limits for making a claim. Normally an application must be made within seven years of the date of your injury or the diagnosis of your illness.

If your injury or illness occurred before 6^th April 2005, then you will not be entitled to an AFCS award but you may be entitled to an award under the War Pensions Scheme (WPS). The WPS does not have the same time limits, so you may still be eligible if you have not already claimed.

The benefit of both schemes is that they are “no fault” schemes, which means that you do not have to prove that your injury or illness was caused by someone else, only that it was caused as a result of your service.

You may also be entitled to bring a civil claim for compensation in addition to a claim under the AFCS or WPS. However, you cannot recover twice for the same losses, so any award you receive under the AFCS or WPS may have to be credited in your civil claim, and vice versa. 

Our specialist solicitors are very familiar with AFCS, WPS and civil claims. 

Many service personnel and their families are not clear about their right to bring a claim for compensation and they often think that they should wait until the conclusion of their service career before making a claim. This may mean that they are out of time when they get advice. So, if you think you may have a claim, you should get advice as soon as possible.