The Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) (Amendment) Order 2019

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011 (S.I. 2011/517) (“the 2011 Order”), which provides for benefits to be payable to, or in respect of, a person by reason of injury, illness or death caused wholly, or partly, by service in the regular or reserve armed forces.

Article 3 amends article 12 of the 2011 Order to define, for the purposes of article 12, the terms exogenous infection and outbreak of exogenous infection.

Article 4 amends article 14 of the 2011 Order to provide that any reference to the amount specified in Table 10 of Schedule 3 to the 2011 Order (which lists the tariff amounts) is to the amount of the tariff at the date of the claim for the injury benefit concerned. The exception to this is if the award is revised due to the worsening of an injury, the development of an additional injury or a mistake. In these cases, any reference to the amount will be to the amount specified in the tariff on the date the award was revised. There is a saving provision in article 8.

Article 5 amends article 24A of the 2011 Order to increase the amount of the allowance known as “the armed forces independence payment” which is designed to provide financial support to cover extra costs that a recipient of that benefit may incur as a result of a relevant injury. That amount is increased to £148.85 per week.

Article 6 amends article 24D of the 2011 Order to increase the amount that may be paid in settlement of liabilities due under an agreement between a claimant and Motability in respect of the hire or hire purchase of a vehicle. That amount is increased to £61.20 per week.

Article 7 amends Schedule 3 to the 2011 Order by—

• inserting a new descriptor into Table 3;

• amending Table 6 to increase the tariff level for item 4;

• inserting new descriptors into Table 9, to make three temporary awards permanent.

Article 8 contains a saving provision in relation to the amendment in article 4, to ensure that the change made by article 4 will not affect the decision on a claim, application for reconsideration or review or an appeal, where the claim, application or appeal was made before 8th April 2019.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.