Over the summer, figures were released regarding common law compensation claims faced by the Ministry of Defence in financial year 2023/24. The headline was that 23,797 new claims were brought in 2023/24, a startling 245% increase on the previous year.

Since Crown Immunity was revoked in May 1987, save for some limited combat immunity restrictions, claims by service personnel against the Ministry of Defence can be made for personal injury in largely the same way as for civilian employees.

Although not strictly a form of employment (rather a form of service for the crown) the relationship between the Ministry of Defence and Service Personnel is for all intents and purposes considered on an employer/ employee basis.

Reasons for the Increase:

Two factors were given to explain such an the increase:

• Over 7,700 claims from members of the local community following a fire in Kenya;
• A threefold rise in Service noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) claims.

Whilst the increase caused by the Kenya fire can be considered a one-off, clearly the exponential increase in NIHL claims (for the fourth year in a row) is not.

NIHL claims

With the Abbott military noise induced hearing loss litigation finally heading to trial this month, the rise in military NIHL claims seems to show no signs of slowing down.

Over the past few years, such claims have risen significantly:

2019/20:        2,505

2020/21:        1,522

2021/22:        3,269

2022/23:        4,571

2023/24:        13,748

Of course, the downward blip in 2020/21 was during ‘peak covid’.

Military NIHL claims are now well-established within legal circles, and widely known about within the military and ex-military community at large.  On this basis the increase is no surprise.  The outcome of the Abbott litigation over the course of the next few months seems likely to add further fuel to the military NIHL litigation fire.  Settlement of some of the Abbott cases has already attracted coverage in the national media.

Total Cost

Total payments (which includes damages and claimants’ costs but not MOD’s own legal costs) reached a weighty £180 million.

The majority of that sum (£135.5 million) was paid in respect of Service Personnel Employer’s Liability cases, reflecting the ongoing cost of occupational injury claims against MOD.

While just 27 clinical negligence claims were settled, these still cost MOD £11.5 million.

Overview

These figures confirm that the Ministry of Defence remains one of the UK’s largest single defendants in personal injury litigation.

The ongoing rise in NIHL claims, and some consistently high-value awards, suggests that there is no sign that military claims are likely to reduce in number in the short-term.

Image: © Crown copyright 2025, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.