The Ministry of Defence is reviewing compensation claims for service personnel suffering from multiple war wounds after an outcry over a soldier who was awarded payment for only three of his 37 injuries.

Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, 23, who served in southern Afghanistan with the 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, lost both his legs and suffered serious head injuries when a landmine exploded in Helmand province last September.

Diane Dernie, his mother, said yesterday that she was planning to take the MoD to the High Court because her son was awarded £152,150 in compensation for his three worst injuries but the assessment did not take account of all his other wounds.

She told The Times: “They assessed his compensation on the basis of losing both his legs, his head injuries and a broken elbow. But he also lost his spleen, lost his voice and had shattered ribs.”

His other injuries included a fractured cheekbone, nose, jaw, pelvis and vertebrae. He is believed to be one of the worst-wounded servicemen ever to survive, but his mother said that he would need care and special help for the rest of his life.

The MoD said yesterday that a review was under way that was looking at whether to change the compensation scheme to assess damage according to multiple injuries rather than on the three worst ones, the present formula used by the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS).

Mrs Dernie, 49, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, said that the award given to her son was an insult.

She added: “I wouldn’t have made a fuss if he had been given the maximum compensation, which is £285,000. But to be granted an award at that level a soldier has to be a paraplegic and blinded and to be in a persistent vegetative state.”

She said that her son was granted a 100 per cent award for losing his legs, resulting in a payment of £115,000; 30 per cent – £34,500 – for his head injuries; and 15 per cent, or £2,650, for his broken elbow.

“We just can’t believe that a scheme intended to care for soldiers who put themselves in such dangerous situations could be so flawed,” she said.

“The severity of Ben’s injuries means that we need to be able to move to an adapted house to help him to live as normal a life as possible. I really don’t believe this will be possible with an award of this size.”

Mrs Dernie said that her son had recently begun to try to speak. “But it’s going to be a long, slow business.”

Andrew Buckham, her solicitor, said: “The current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq are resulting in service personnel returning to the UK with horrific injuries that will need rehabilitative support and care in the long term . . . The current scheme is not flexible enough fairly to assess the case of multiple injuries such as Ben’s and, with an upper limit of £285,000, the scheme does not provide sufficient funds to meet the future needs of severely injured service personnel.”

A spokesman for the MoD said: “The AFCS scheme is based on modern best practice and was developed in line with other existing, established models such as the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.”

Under the civilian scheme, covering people hurt during the course of a crime, a victim who suffers from paralysis of the lower limbs would be awarded £175,000, and permanent brain damage merits £250,000. Mrs Dernie said that the civil scheme could pay out a maximum of £500,000.

The MoD spokesman said: “We are keeping it [the compensation scheme] under review in light of experience, particularly the complex injuries currently being sustained on operations, to ensure that it remains focused on the most severely injured.”

Lance Bombardier Parkinson is still in the Army and receiving his full pay.

The MoD said that when he left the Army he would be given a guaranteed income based on his age and rank and service. Mr Buckham said that this amounted to £19,000 a year. The MoD said that the payment would be increased in line with inflation.

— British troops will be withdrawn from Iraq at a time to suit Britain’s interests, David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday (Michael Evans writes). The timing would not be dependent on what the US was doing in Baghdad.

Mr Miliband spoke as reports from Basra indicated that the 500 British troops still based in the city centre could be pulled out within the next few days and moved to the main base at the airport. The 500 troops are at the Basra Palace complex in the city.

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