RMA-RMC-Impact-Report-2023-24 - Flipbook - Page 13
2
25
135
0
260
AFCS and War Pensions
New Armed Forces Compensation
Scheme cases supported in 2022
24
0
Not knowing where else to turn,
Fletch thought to contact RMA
– The Royal Marines Charity’s
Health & Wellbeing team. They
immediately put him in touch with
our specialist Tribunal Advocate and
Pensions Advisors, who advised
him how to go about requesting
www.rma-trmc.org
‘It was such a great relief to finally
have someone on my side, someone
who understood the situation I
was in; and to then advise me and
give me so much help and support
to guide me through the maze of
bureaucracy to get my war pension
sorted out once and for all.”
Fletch was provided with advice
and guidance about seeking an
assessment through Veterans UK
and how to take the claim to an
independent War Pensions’ Tribunal.
Our specialist Tribunal Advocate
and Pensions Advisors assisted him
in drafting the necessary letters,
filling out the forms and getting
all the necessary documentation
together to re-submit his case.
220
“I was about to give up
and let things go on as
they were. The continual
struggle was causing
me a lot of stress and
anxiety. It had taken
over my life,” he said.
an assessment of the disability
pension he’d been awarded — and,
most importantly, encouraged
him to go and see his doctor.
0
When veteran RM Richard Fletcher
(‘Fletch’) realised after being
medically discharged in 2021 that
there was a shortfall in the war
pension he had been awarded —
and that it was being taxed — he
tried repeatedly to sort the situation
out through the Veterans Agency
and HMRC. All his requests were
rejected and every attempt to try and
remedy the situation fell on stony
ground — he was getting nowhere.
23
Tribunals
& pensions
“With help from the
RMA I successfully
challenged the amount
of war pension I was
awarded, I’m now paying
the right amount of
tax, and I have a new
treatment plan from
the doctor which has
massively improved
my physical health.
I cannot express just
how grateful I am to the
RMA who have made
me feel that although
I have left the Corps,
I am not alone.”
Finally — the breakthrough he
had been hoping for. Our advisors
represented him at an independent
tribunal which found in his favour —
that Veterans UK had in fact underassessed his level of disability.
13