[2025] UKUT 033 (AAC)

The appellant appeals against the decision of the First-tier Tribunal of 13 March 2024, in which the Tribunal upheld the Secretary of State’s decision that the appellant is not entitled to compensation under the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011 (SI 2011/517) (“the AFCS Order”) because his condition of myofascial/atypical facial pain was not predominantly caused by service.

A Statement of Reasons (SoR) was issued on 24 April 2024. Permission to appeal was refused by the First-tier Tribunal on 8 August 2024, but granted by me on 26 September 2024.

In his appeal form, the appellant identified five numbered grounds of appeal. I granted permission on all grounds, but observed in doing so that the appellant’s grounds 2 and 3 did not really raise separate arguable errors to that identified by ground 1, but were further arguments in support of ground 1, while ground 4 added nothing material to the appeal. The grounds of substance, and the only grounds that I have needed to deal with in order to resolve this appeal, are therefore grounds 1 and 5, which are in summary:-

In response to the order I made when granting permission to appeal, the appellant provided further information/submissions identifying the medical evidence he relied on before the First-tier Tribunal in relation to ground 5 (together with more recent medical evidence that was not before the First-tier Tribunal). The Secretary of State then filed submissions responding to, and resisting, the appeal, to which the appellant has replied. Both parties have consented to my determining the appeal on the papers and I am satisfied that it is in accordance with the overriding objective to do so and that further oral submissions would not assist.