£190,000 PTSD Compensation Payout for British Soldier

A PTSD Compensation Claim Case Study - Client Situation

Our client was travelling in an armoured vehicle with other members of his platoon in Afghanistan and had been involved in a Force Protection Operation when the attack happened.

On his return to the UK, he started drinking and gambling heavily, and developed psychological symptoms, including hyper-vigilance, nightmares, flashbacks, poor concentration, low confidence, anger outbursts and mood swings.

He reported his issues to his medical centre, but he wasn’t referred for a proper or adequate Treatment Programme, and the psychological symptoms persisted. His PTSD symptoms were made worse by his deployment on tours of duty to Kenya in 2016 and Afghanistan in 2017.

There was no proper assessment of his fitness to attend on either tour of duty and he suffered a mental health breakdown. On his return from Afghanistan, he was finally referred for a proper course of treatment and got in touch with our expert Military Claims Solicitors for a free claims assessment.

I agreed to help him claim PTSD compensation, the failure to refer him for appropriate treatment and the failure to downgrade him medically to make sure further tours of duty didn’t make his injury worse.

He was never fit to return to his duties afterwards and was medically discharged as a consequence of his PTSD injury in 2018.

How We Helped

I arranged for him to be seen by a Consultant Psychiatrist with extensive experience in military claims. Further reports were also obtained from a GP and Community Psychiatric Nurse, concerning how the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had managed his medical treatment.

The Consultant Psychiatrist’s report supported the allegations of fault against the MoD, concluding that the delay in proper treatment being started had caused the PTSD injury to be significantly worse, leading to his eventual medical discharge and affecting his civilian life.

I also obtained a report from a firm of Employment Consultants specialising in military work. The Employment Consultant, an ex-Army Officer, prepared a report assessing the impact of the injury on our client’s Army career, and how his military and civilian career options had been affected by his ongoing PTSD.

The conclusions of the experts we instructed helped us accurately value the claim, so it would reflect the severity of what had happened to him and meet his future needs.

The MoD didn’t admit responsibility, so Court proceedings were initiated on our client’s behalf.

The Outcome

Thankfully, we settled the claim without having to go to Court, as Lawyers for the MoD agreed to attend a settlement meeting with me and a Barrister appointed on our client’s behalf.

Following negotiations between both sides, a settlement of £190,000 compensation was agreed.

We also successfully negotiated for our client to continue receiving the monthly Guaranteed Income Payment he was already being paid through the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme claim which he had made separately.