Armed Forces campaigner questioned Shropshire Council's policies in supporting county veterans

An Armed Forces campaigner has questioned Shropshire Council's policies in supporting the county's veterans.

Kieran Chambers, from Alveley, has noticed a "stark contradiction" between the council's housing and welfare benefits departments, set against "an unyielding national backdrop".

"According to the latest local authority housing statistics, Shropshire Council gives full exemption from local residency tests to Armed Forces members," said Mr Chambers.

"In fact, 100 per cent of the households awarded urgent 'additional preference' housing priority in Shropshire were from the Armed Forces community.

"In stark contrast, when those same injured veterans apply for local welfare support - including council tax support, housing benefits, discretionary housing payments (DHPs), and disabled facilities grants (DFGs) - Shropshire Council counts military compensation for pain and injury as standard household income."

Mr Chambers added that the issue is compounded by central government.

In a Parliamentary response last year, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) confirmed that the Government disregards only £10 per week of War Pensions or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards when calculating pension credit.

"Crucially, the Minister explicitly stated there are 'no plans to review the treatment of military compensation in pension credit'," said Mr Chambers.

A Shropshire Council spokesperson said: "As a signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant, Shropshire Council is committed to ensuring that those who serve or have served in the armed forces, and their families, are treated fairly.

"Each council service area follows the appropriate regulations, legislation and polices relevant to that area and their decisions are based on these. Where armed forces personnel or veterans are treated differently by service areas it’s because the regulations, legislation or polices differ between these areas.

"The council doesn’t disregard armed forces compensation scheme payments in relation to council tax support, housing benefits, and discretionary housing payments (DHPs) applications. We also have discretion through Crisis Resilience Fund to provide additional support."

Responding to that, Mr Chambers said: "Due to this, veterans who have served their country, been injured in the line of duty, and are receiving compensation, are disadvantaged due to their service.

"I look forward to seeing if [Prime Minister] Andy Burnham, comments on this. Because central government refuses to fix this national inequality, over 50 local councils across the UK have taken matters into their own hands by implementing 100 per cent local disregard for military compensation.

"Shropshire Council, despite holding an Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award, has so far failed to do so."

Responding to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from Mr Chambers, Shropshire Council confirmed that no veterans have had their military compensation count as income for council tax support or housing benefits. "Luckily, as the FOI shows, this has yet to actually happen, but it could happen.

"It is happening on a national level, as the DWP only disregard £10 of military compensation when they check eligibility for pension credit. This is another thing I am campaigning to change, and I am in close contact with our MP, Stuart Anderson, regarding this."