A sense of betrayal
| Pages | 6-8 |
| Published date | 20 March 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-05-2016-0023 |
| Date | 20 March 2017 |
| Author | Mo Stewart |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Public mental health |
A sense of betrayal
Mo Stewart
Abstract
Purpose –No civilian has any comprehension of life in British military forces, or the impact of the removal of
that life when unexpectedly returned to “Civvy Street”following the onset of a permanent illness or profound
disability, with the gradual realisation that support in the civilian world means that a disabled veteran is just
one of a crowd. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach –Participant observation.
Findings –Welfare reforms together with austerity measures introduced by the British government are
causing preventable harm to the most vulnerable in society.
Research limitations/implications –This paper was written by invitation and is limited by word length.
Practical implications –Older working-age disabled veterans are being abandoned by the state and suffer
due to a change in government social policy.
Social implications –Disregarding the suffering and preventable harm created in society by the ongoing
welfare reforms will have consequences that will need to be addressed as a matter of urgency, as the often
tragic consequences are eventually alerted to the public.
Originality/value –A demonstration that the older working-age disabled veterans are being harmed by
welfare reforms and the armed forces covenant has been breached.
Keywords Mental health, Disabled veterans, Work Capability Assessment (WCA), War Pension
Paper type Case study
No civilian has any comprehension of life in British military forces, or the impact of the removal of
that life when unexpectedly returned to “Civvy Street”following the onset of a permanent illness
or a profound disability, with the gradual realisation that support in the civilian world means that
the disabled veteran is just one of a crowd.
There is a period of adjustment. For many disabled veterans there is also the onset of a mental
health problem that may well last years, as the sense of loss of the military support network adds
to their daily burden of dealing with the onset of a permanent illness or disability and a broken
quality of life.
There was a time when the British government demonstrated a duty of care to disabled military
veterans. The award of a War Pension (WP) was an indicator of that duty of care, with disabled
veterans awarded a pension for life to acknowledge their sacrifice whilst serving the nation in
military uniform. A WP is not a benefit and any review of a WP is to acknowledge a deterioration in
health or increased disability, and is not an indication of the ability to work in paid employment.
Severely disabled veterans were guaranteed the pension, with help to claim additional support
via the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) that opened the door to a Motability vehicle and
independence with support from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
This all changed in 2005 when the WP was replaced by the Armed Forces Compensation
Scheme, and support for older working-age disabled veterans was gradually reduced over time.
Until 2008, all reviews of the WP were conducted by experienced former military doctors who
conducted detailed, clinically accurate examinations. Unfortunately governments change, as
does government policy. Now, civil servants at the veterans’agency think it appropriate to
arrange for an unaccountable corporate giant to conduct an inappropriate Work Capability
Assessment (WCA), which is used to assess work capability (Stewart, 2010), because civil
servants now have a priority to reduce costs rather than support disabled veterans. Help is
disappearing.DLA is to stop and is being replaced by the Personal Independence Payment (PIP),
Received 17 May 2016
Revised 17 May 2016
Accepted 31 August 2016
Mo Stewart is an Independent
Researcher in Wisbech, UK.
PAG E 6
j
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC MENTAL HEALTH
j
VOL. 16 NO. 1 2017, pp. 6-8, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-5729 DOI 10.1108/JPMH-05-2016-0023
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