Troops seriously injured in the line of duty have condemned as totally inadequate the increase in compensation payments announced today by the Ministry of Defence.

Under reforms to the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, personnel will be eligible for payouts for all injuries sustained in a single incident. At the moment, just the three most serious attract lump sum compensation. The maximum lump sum payout will however stay at £285,000 under the proposals, which will now go for consultation.

Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, said that those who have been injured since the start of the scheme in April 2005 will receive additional payments so they receive the same benefits.

But relatives of injured troops criticised the Government, saying it treated soldiers as a “commodity” and a figure of £285,000 was woefully inadequate.

Diane Dernie is the mother of Paratrooper Ben Parkinson who was left paralysed after being blown up by a land mine in Afghanistan last year, losing both legs, suffering severe fractures, and receiving brain damage that left him unable to speak and with severe memory loss.

The 23-year-old - who was serving with the 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery - was awarded only an “insulting” £152,000 lump sum because rules of the scheme meant that most of his wounds counted for nothing.

At a press conference in Sheffield today, Mrs Dernie thanked Mr Browne for the revisions to the compensation scheme but said the upper ceiling is far too low to pay for the specialist needs of Lance Bombardier Parkinson.

She said: “I think timing, public pressure, these are the things that have forced this change, not any feeling of responsibility. They are simply figures on a balance sheet.

“They do not have any role, any function and the Ministry of Defence wants to dispose of them as cheaply as possible.”

She went on to lambast Gordon Brown’s recent trip to Iraq, drawing a comparison between the Prime Minister’s experience with what families undergo when their sons are admitted to Selly Oak Hospital, in Birmingham, where many of the wounded have been treated.

She said: “You’d be sitting outside of intensive care and you’d see these devastated, shattered families turning up and you’d think ’there’s another one whose lives have been ruined. When you see these families and people just in despair, frightened, that’s when you realise.

“And when you see the numbers turning up at Selly Oak. Then one day you’d see a transport coming back with literally dozens and dozens of walking wounded. That’s when you realise what’s truly happening in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I’m afraid a 12-hour pre-arranged visit doesn’t cut it as far as knowing what the troops are going through.”

Compensation MoD sources confirmed that under the new arrangements Lance Bombardier Parkinson would now receive the full £285,000 lump sum payment.

Mr Browne said: “Our Armed Forces are unique in making a vital contribution to the security of our nation and we have a responsibility to continue to look after them properly when they get injured.

“This review will benefit those with the most serious multiple injuries - and they will be compensated for all their injuries up to the full £285,000 lump sum payment.”

At present different injuries are grouped into “tariffs” for how much lump sum compensation they attract.

Mrs Dernie said it was difficult to put a figure on what would be an appropriate amount of compensation. And she accepted that because her son was a soldier, she did not compare his situation with someone who received compensation for a civil injury.

Dr Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, said: This [new compensation rule] is a modest step in the right direction, but it will make no difference for the majority of those injured on active service. When the new arrangements were discussed in Parliament in 2004 we repeatedly expressed concern about the tariff system.

“But Ministers have still not addressed the paradox of civilians receiving compensation for relatively minor occupational injuries that is far in excess of payments to casualties, with the most appalling disabilities sustained, in the course of military service.

“This latest rushed announcement does nothing to mend the broken military covenant.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• What makes the perfect mum?
• To keep me stress-free, no more awareness days, please
• What do lottery winners buy?