Army 'forcing out sick Gulf war veterans'

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>

> Army 'forcing out sick Gulf war veterans'

> (Filed: 01/12/2003)

>

> MoD using 'manning control' system to avoid paying soldiers medical

> pensions, reports Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent

>

> The Ministry of Defence forced " hundreds " of victims of Gulf war syndrome

> to quit the Army under a system known as manning control to avoid paying

> them medical pensions.

>

> If the soldiers were medically discharged they would have been

> automatically eligible for a medical pension. But because they were forced

> to quit, they received nothing.

>

> The National Gulf Veterans and Families Association said yesterday that at

> least 400 of its members were forced out under the manning control system

> rather than being medically discharged.

>

> Shaun Rusling, the association's chairman, said they were considering

> taking a class action against the MoD.

>

> " All these people can prove they should have been medically discharged,

but

> instead were wrongly discharged from the Army, either by manning control

or

> jumping on their own accord before they were pushed.

>

> " Because they weren't properly medically discharged they do not have any

> medical pension. It is a national disgrace, and it has been well hidden

> until now by the MoD fudging figures. "

>

> The revelation follows an admission by Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary,

> that the MoD's figures for the numbers manning controlled were distorted.

>

> The policy, first exposed by the case of Cpl Paul Biddis, has seen

> thousands of soldiers given the choice of being dismissed or switching to

a

> short-term contract in a move designed to cut the numbers serving 22

years.

>

> At the end of the short-term contract, the soldier is told that his or her

> " services are no longer required " , allowing the MoD to evade its pension

> obligations.

>

> Soldiers sign on for 22 years with options to leave at three-year points

> but unless they do something wrong, the Army can only dispense with their

 

> services at the six, nine or 12-year points. If they serve for the full 22

> years they receive an immediate pension. This costs the MoD millions of

> pounds a year.

>

> The Government announced a new system which does away with the immediate

> pension in the Queen's Speech but anyone who is already in the Army will

> still receive it if they serve the full 22 years.

>

> The MoD has insisted that only a very small number of soldiers have been

> " manning controlled " .

>

> But even before the Gulf war veterans came forward 360 victims were taking

> legal action against the MoD.

>

> Mr Hoon admitted, in a letter to Paul Keetch, the Liberal Democrat defence

> spokesman, that many more may have been affected since " some soldiers

> elected to leave " rather than wait to be forced out. His admission comes

as

> documents leaked to The Daily Telegraph show that defence ministers misled

> Parliament over the extent of the " manning control " policy.

>

> Lewis Moonie, the then veterans minister, told Parliament in June that

> there were " no plans to conduct any manning control point reviews in the

> next 12 months " .

>

> Mr Moonie's successor, Ivor Caplin, confirmed last month in a written

reply

> to a question from Mr Keetch that this suspension was still in place.

>

> But The Telegraph has seen documents sent to units since the alleged

> suspension in which they are still being given lists of soldiers who are

to

> be considered for manning control.

>

> One document said the Army Personnel Centre in Glasgow, which orchestrated

> the policy, " would no longer prompt units with a list of corporals,

> lance-corporals and privates approaching the manning control point " .

>

> But a subsequent document sent to the same unit gave a list of soldiers

> approaching their manning control points and when the unit did nothing it

> received a demand for confirmation that action was being taken.

>

> Mr Keetch called for an inquiry amid what he said was mounting evidence

> that the system had been abused.

>

> The legal action that was pending would force the MoD to come clean

> eventually, he said. Mr Keetch added: " If these Gulf war heroes were

> chucked on the scrap heap and denied medical pensions to save money, it is

> a national disgrace. "

>

> 1ae90e5.jpg 14 June 2003: MoD defeated over Gulf war syndrome

>

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/01/ngulf01.xml