UK NEWS

£30,000 A DAY FOR INJURED SOLDIERS AS PAYOUTS SOAR

Even civilians with workplace injuries can expect to get more than soldiers

Tuesday October 21,2008

By Tom Morgan

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PAYOUTS to soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan amount to £30,000 a day.

The compensation bill rocketed to £10.5million last year, up from £5.3million the year before.

Ministry of Defence lawyers are now dealing with almost three cases a day.

Also, £6.5million has been paid out to innocent Iraqis injured in the fighting.

But fewer than one in 10 injured soldiers has received more than £10,000.

This contrasts with the £700,000 recently given to Colin Stagg, who was wrongly accused of murdering Rachel Nickell, 23, on Wimbledon Common in London in 1993.

Even civilians with workplace injuries can expect to receive more than soldiers.

MoD figures show that 1,210 of the 1,320 soldiers who were compensated last year received £8,250 or less each.

Just 110 got payments ranging from £11,000 to £200,000. No one qualified for the top level payout of £285,000.

A soldier can expect as little as £1,000 if shot. Breaking both legs or arms qualifies for £8,250. For partial loss of vision or brain injury, soldiers can expect £11,000, while losing an arm or leg qualifies for £46,000.

Blindness in both eyes earns £201,000, while £285,000 would be for a brain injury leaving the victim in a vegetative state.

Major Charles Heyman, editor of the British Army Guide, said: “An awful lot of people are not being adequately compensated and this has a detrimental effect on morale and recruitment.”