[2025] UKUT 250 (AAC)

The factual background to this appeal is not in dispute. The Appellant joined the Royal Navy in 2000, serving as a regular member until 2002 and for various periods in the Royal Naval Reserve, both part-time and full-time. He had two periods of mobilisation to regular service. The Appellant was injured while serving in Iraq and claimed compensation under the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011 (SI 2011/517) (albeit initially under the 2005 predecessor to the AFCS Order 2011). He remained in the Part-time Reserve Service and (at the time of the relevant Tribunal decision) was expected to leave service in February or March 2025.

The Secretary of State accepted that service was the cause or predominant cause of his injuries and on 6 May 2010 made an award under the AFCS for two conditions listed in Tables 4 and 9 respectively, which were both assessed at Level 13. In April 2018 the Appellant applied for a review of the award, but this was refused on the basis that the request was out of time.

On 29 August 2018 the Appellant requested an exceptional review of the award under Article 59 of the AFCS. This too was refused, but the Appellant appealed successfully to a First-tier Tribunal, which found that the criteria for an exceptional review had been met, namely that the Secretary of State’s decision was made in ignorance of, or under a mistake as to, the facts. The claim was then remitted to the Secretary of State to consider afresh the claim for a new medical condition.

On 26 March 2021 the Secretary of State issued a fresh decision refusing the new claim. On appeal, however, a further First-tier Tribunal, held in 2022, allowed the appeal and substituted awards for two conditions under Table 4, each of which was assessed at Level 11. It followed that the Appellant only qualified for a GIP after his successful appeal against the outcome of the Article 59 review.

A Veterans UK decision implementing the 2022 Tribunal’s decision to make the Level 11 award notified the Appellant that he would receive his GIP payable monthly from the date of his discharge. The Appellant appealed against the Secretary of State’s decision dated 13 February 2023 that the implementation date for his GIP would be his date of discharge (which, as noted, was anticipated to be in early 2025). The Appellant, on the other hand, asserted (on the basis of Article 64(6)) that his award of GIP was payable with effect from 29 August 2012, being the date six years before the date he had requested the ultimately successful Article 59 review.