Millennium3

MoD office worker gets £200,000 payout
By Stephen Adams

Soldiers' families reacted angrily after it emerged the Ministry of Defence awarded £202,000 to an office employee who strained his back picking up a printer.

The "disgraceful" decision left the civil servant with a larger payout than almost all the servicemen injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Phil Cooper, the father of the youngest British soldier to be injured in Iraq, said the decision "says it all" about the Government's regard for the nation's troops.

Pte Jamie Cooper was 18 when he was hit by two mortar rounds in Basra in November 2006. He suffered serious internal injuries, a shattered pelvis, and also damaged his leg and lost the use of a hand.

Despite his ordeal he was awarded just £57,587, which the MoD refused to increase on appeal.

Mr Cooper yesterday laughed in frustration at the comparison between awards made to civilian and military staff.

He said: "If I didn't laugh I'd cry. Unfortunately it doesn't shock or surprise me any more.

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"It is disgraceful. This faceless bureaucrat picks up a printer and gets £202,000 and my son picks up two mortar blasts and gets £57,000. It says it all."

Mr Cooper was speaking as he prepared to attend a charity rugby match in Kingswood, Bristol, in aid of Help for Heroes. The military appeal is trying to raise up to £10?million to upgrade facilities at Headley Court, the military rehabilitation facility in Surrey.

"If you are a white collar bureaucrat you can get a payout like this but if you are a front line soldier you have to rely on charity like this match for support," said Mr Cooper.

He added that Jamie was "not happy" either about the civil servant's compensation award.

Charles Heyman, a defence analyst and former Army major, said: "This will have a devastating effect on morale, especially for those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will go around like greased lightening.

"It is a lunatic amount of money to pay out and it is derisory to serving military personnel. When you compare the amount to the money that people get who lose limbs, this payout is absolute madness. Anybody who has worn a military uniform will feel the same way."

He added: "The people who made this award really need to stand up and be counted."

The civil servant's payment was divulged in the 2006-07 annual report of the MoD's Directorate of Safety and Claims.

The report also showed a second civilian MoD employee was awarded £217,000 after developing chronic fatigue syndrome and depression.

An MoD spokesman confirmed the amounts and details of the awards were correct.

However, she said injured servicemen received not only a lump-sum compensation award but also a "guaranteed tax-free, index-linked" annual income for life.

Pte Cooper will receive £9,000 a year for life - 60 per cent of his final salary.

Previously an RAF typist who injured her thumb was awarded £484,000. The case caused outrage when it emerged she had been given more than three times that awarded to Lance Bombadier Ben Parkinson, who lost both legs in an Iraq blast, which also left him paralysed and brain damaged

After months of publicity his compensation was increased from £152,150 to £285,000.

MoD office worker gets £200,000 payout - Telegraph

HighlandFP

British soldier's wife told to leave country
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...soldier217.xml

Canadian-born Samantha Crozier, 23, has been given notice by the Home Office to leave the country by April 30, when her temporary visa expires after her application for British citizenship was refused.
Posted Mar 17, 2008 08:58 AM PST
Category: GREAT BRITAIN

There's gratitude for you!

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Millennium3

Just wonderful!

Gramboy2

Soldiers wife - prime candidate to kick out she's white, works and not claiming benefits etc.

Compensation - start by not voting for this Gov't anymore. Then start sacking the jobsworth who rule the roost in the flabby civil 'service'