Abacus insurance payout: an insult

Private Simon Peacock of 1st Battalion the Royal Anglian, who almost died from injuries caused by a Taliban RPG, has been paid just £1,400 from his insurance company Abacus - after originally being offered £226. Pte Peacock is in constant pain from the lumps of shrapnel still lodged in his heart, lungs, knee and hand which he has been warned could kill him at any time. Although he is able to walk around, there is no chance of him returning to active service and he will probably have to leave the Army.
He said: "I think it's insulting. Apparently my injuries don't fall into the right categories for a decent payout, so all I've got is £1,000 for shrapnel wounds and £400 for my time in hospital.
I even had to fight for that. Originally they only offered me £226 and I had to get the commanding officer of the Army rehabilitation centre to sign a note on my behalf to get it increased."

Along with most other frontline soldiers Simon has been paying out for private injury insurance because the compensation awards provided by the Ministry of Defence are so abysmal. Abacus is one of the insurance companies recommended by the MoD.

It's bad enough that troops on active service are having to fork out for their own insurance; when the insurance company then turns round and offers such a miserable payout for such serious injuries, its downright disgusting. Army sources said there were a number of cases where injured soldiers are in dispute with insurance firms over pay-outs.

Of course, if he'd strained his thumb typing up reports, he would be getting £484,000 from the MoD

Link> EADT24: Injured soldier 'could die at any time'
Link> AV: Soldiers forces to pay massive insurance premiums
Link> The Press Association: Soldiers take out private insurance
Link> The Echo: How can we treat squaddies so badly?