Compensation following assault or abuse by armed forces personnel

Advice for military wives and family injured by MOD employees

We have dealt with many cases in recent years involving military personnel who injure their family in some way. This is a very tricky area and specialist advice is needed.

If you or a loved one has been assaulted or abused by a person employed within the armed forces, you may come up against a number of difficulties in reporting the matter to the authorities. Whilst attitudes within the MOD are changing, we have come across many instances where abused family members (in some instances women subjected to rape) have been given very little assistance by the military authorities.

If you are injured in this way by a member of your family, including a spouse, who is a member of the Army, Navy or RAF, you need to be fully aware of your rights to seek compensation. In most cases you have the following options:

LITIGATION CLAIM AGAINST THE MOD

Such claims need to be brought within 3 years and you will need to show that the MOD were in some way negligent for either not preventing the incident (ignoring previous reports etc) or not helping the assailant if treatment or therapy was necessary. There may be other instances of negligence. Specialist advice is recommended.

CRIMINAL INJURY CLAIM

A more likely route to make a claim would be through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) which is a government body providing compensation to the innocent victims of crime. In order to claim you must make your application to the CICA within 2 years of the assault. In cases of sexual abuse or rape assault it may be possible to extend the time limit but usually not beyond 2 years from the date you first brought the matter to the attention of the civilian or military police.

There are other avenues to explore dependent upon your circumstances and legal advice is highly recommended in each individual case.

To make an enquiry with us about your military personnel injury claim - please call us on 01423 593 002