Administration of Benefits

AuthorAndrew Bano
Pages193-198

PART III


ADMINISTRATION AND ADJUDICATION

Chapter 23

Administration of Benefits

23.1 From 1916 until 1953, war pensions were administered by the Ministry of Pensions. In 1953, the Ministry of Pensions merged with the Ministry of National Insurance to become the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance. In 1966, war pensions became the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Security, which merged with the Ministry of Health in 1968 to form the Department of Health and Social Security. Following the break-up of that department in 1998, war pensions were administered by the Department of Social Security until its abolition in 2001 when, for 6 months, they were administered by the Department for Work and Pensions. However, in December of that year responsibility for the administration of war pensions was transferred to the Ministry of Defence by the Transfer of Functions (War Pensions etc.) Order 2001.1The functions of the Ministry of Defence in relation to war pensions and, from 2005, armed forces compensation used to be carried out by an Executive Agency called the SPVA, but on 1 April 2014 the SPVA merged with the Ministry of Defence’s Defence Business Services to become part of Veterans UK, now called DBS Veterans UK. Through all these changes, the administration of war pensions, and latterly armed forces compensation benefits, has been carried out at Norcross, near Blackpool, to where the Ministry of Pensions moved in 1940.

DECISION MAKING
23.2 War pensions and armed forces compensation decisions are made by DBS Veterans UK officials in the name of the Secretary of State under the so-called Carltona2principle. War pensions claims may involve both factual and medical questions. Factual questions such as whether the claimant was a member of the armed forces are decided by departmental officials.3However, articles 40

1SI 2001/3506.

2Carltona v Commissioner of Works [1943] 2 All ER 560.

3Gillan v Minister of Pensions (1953) 5 WPAR 286.

196 War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation – Law and Practice

and 41 of the SPO 2006 require fulfilment of the conditions of entitlement under those articles to be certified, and article 42(5) requires certification of the percentage degree of disablement. Under article 43(b)(i), unless there has been an appeal, any matter which requires to be certified must be determined in accordance with a certificate of a medical officer or board of medical officers...

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