Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason there are delays in payment of the war pension scheme for new pension claimants.

There is no delay in making payments once an eligibility and entitlement decision is reached.

All claims and appeals are considered as quickly as possible so as not to cause undue stress and concerns to individuals. A decision made in the Upper Tribunal in 2018, requiring a much fuller explanation of how decisions were arrived at to be recorded, both for new cases and thousands of retrospective cases, meant a significant increase in workload prior to the pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 then led to further delays, particularly given the dependencies on third parties for the provision of medical information and assessments (such as from hospitals and GPs). Social distancing requirements led to a reduced number of Veterans UK staff able to attend the office in person and process casework, including requests for new claims, reviews, reconsiderations, and appeals.