British troops seriously injured in operations are to have their compensation payments doubled as part of a new package of welfare measures to be published today.

The Ministry of Defence will announce that the Government will increase compensation for UK armed forces personnel from £285,000 to £570,000.

Servicemen and women who suffer less serious injuries during conflicts will receive an increase of up to 80 per cent.

The measure forms part of the Service Personnel Command Paper, which will address serious long-standing concerns within the military, particularly on family issues.

Some of the military's key concerns include problems with access to school places, NHS doctors and dentists for families. Soldiers are often at a disadvantage in obtaining public services because they transfer from posting to posting.

Military chiefs see today's welfare package as crucial to building up manning levels across the three services by improving retention rates. It comes after an internal MoD survey found that 47 per cent of soldiers in the Army, and almost as many personnel in the RAF, regularly considered quitting.

Commissioned by Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, in November 2007, the cross-government paper will include an offer to pay the tuition fees of personnel who decide to go back into education when they leave the Armed Forces, provided they have completed at least six years service.

Injured veterans will be offered free bus travel and it will be made easier for armed forces personnel with frequent and short notice postings to get their children into local schools.

Service leavers will also be helped on to the property ladder by having their key worker status extended by for 12 months after they have left the armed forces.

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