Hearing loss and tinnitus after military service
Years of gunfire, aircraft, engine rooms and heavy weapons take a toll that often shows up long after discharge. If your hearing has suffered and you think service caused it, there are several routes open to you — and the first ones cost nothing.
You do not have to pay anyone
GOV.UK is explicit that you do not need a solicitor or a claims management company to apply for armed forces compensation, and that free independent help is available. These routes are open to you whether or not you ever speak to us.
- Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) — for illness or injury caused by service on or after 6 April 2005. Apply free through Veterans UK.
- War Pension Scheme — for service before 6 April 2005. Also free, also through Veterans UK.
- Free help with either — the Veterans Welfare Service, and charities including the Royal British Legion and SSAFA, will help you apply at no cost.
A civil claim is a separate thing
AFCS and War Pension payments come from a government scheme. A civil claim against the Ministry of Defence is a different route, usually run by a solicitor, and you can pursue one alongside a scheme award. Which routes suit you depends on when you served, what your hearing is like now, and when you first connected the two.
Time limits, honestly
A civil claim is normally subject to a three-year limit running from when you first knew — or ought reasonably to have known — that your hearing loss might be linked to service. When that date falls is a legal question, not an arithmetic one, and it is decided on your particular facts. Courts can also extend the period in some circumstances.
You may have read about settlement arrangements agreed between the Ministry of Defence and particular law firms for their own clients. Those terms belong to the firms that negotiated them, and the MOD has reserved the right not to offer the same terms to people represented elsewhere. We cannot promise you access to any such arrangement, and you should treat anyone who does with caution. If this matters to you, ask the firm you are considering, directly.
What we do, and what we do not
RemedyBridge is a claims management company, not a law firm. If you send us the form below, a person reads it and gets in touch to talk it through. We do not decide whether you have a claim, whether you are in time, or what a claim might be worth — those are questions for a specialist solicitor, and anyone answering them from a web form is guessing.
Ask us to get in touch
A few questions so we know who is calling and what about. Nothing here is a decision about your claim, and nothing is ticked for you.