It is staggering that the Ministry of Defence’s chief claims officer should admit that he has never seen any official documents on the dangers of depleted uranium despite reports warning of potential hazards four years ago. Yet Jeff Mitchell, who runs the risk management team dealing with potential compensation claims against the ministry, accepts that “the issue has not yet come across our desks”.

At best, evidence of poor communication. At worst, it shows a lack of awareness which cynics may see as a deliberate attempt to stall legitimate claims.

According to lawyers and campaign groups, the MoD routinely greets legal proceedings with incompetence, heavy-handed secretiveness and evasions. All this in the face of claims of cancer-causing depleted uranium in the Balkans, chemical-induced illnesses in the Gulf War and debilitating secret tests on military personnel at Porton Down research station.

John Mackenzie, a solicitor with Sheratte Caleb & Co, frequently sues the MoD. Some of his cases have led to changes in court martial proceedings. “The MoD is very obstructive,” he says. “Files are often ‘lost’ so that people dealing with claims are not furnished with all the facts and personnel frequently miss time limits. The ministry’s approach to health and safety is appalling. The depleted uranium issue is part of a wider malaise which puts personnel welfare down the list of priorities.”

He adds: “The Services jealously guard their independence and are powerful at lobbying for what they want but they need to learn that they have to stop treating personnel as cardboard cutouts.”

Some of this independence was removed in 1997. Since then military personnel have been able to sue for tort, though not for incidents in action. More lawyers have been recruited and there are now 100 army lawyers, compared with 50 in 1995, for example. In addition, the MoD is paying about £80 million a year in compensation.

Although personnel numbers are falling, there has been a constant rate of some 750 claims a year for a while and, according to the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association (NGVFA), the desert war can be blamed for the deaths of 523 Service members since 1991.

Shaun Rusling, the chairman of the NGVFA, has his own painful experience. He became ill, was confused and suffered post-traumatic stress, pains in his joints and chronic fatigue in 1993 after serving as a sergeant in the Gulf. He has had osteoporosis diagnosed. “Dealing with the MoD was like running in water and being unable to get anywhere. I suffered a total breakdown but they would not accept it and told me to get a grip. Medical records covering the exposure of troops such as me were incomplete.”

It was not until 1996 that he was medically discharged. “Even then the discharge lettersaid only that I had a ‘readjustment disorder from coming back from the war’. The MoD only admits to things when it cannot wriggle out of them.”

Mitchell counters: “We take personnel welfare very seriously. My risk management team has spoken to 2,500 military people to promote safety. We settle or fight claims on the basis of legal liability.”

He says, bearing in mind the complexity of Gulf War claims, that the strict three-year personal injury limitation period has been waived until medical research is carried out. “A similar approach is likely for depleted uranium claims.” But he admits that “as regiments shrink and change, files may have ended up in the wrong place”.

Treasury solicitors, who deal with many of the claims for the MoD, would not comment. A ministry spokesman would onsay only that it does everything possible to protect personnel welfare. Geraldine McCool, a solicitor with Leigh Day & Co who specialises in suing the Armed Forces, says since the Woolf reforms the MoD and the legal teams acting for it have put their houses in order. “Before the reforms, we never settled a case until we issued, now we settle many claims.”

McCool says that before issuing, many cases are dealt with by Royal and SunAlliance. Once proceedings are issued, Treasury solicitors, with three private firms that are part of a pilot project, defend claims. “I have noticed a marked improvement,” she says. “The Services also seem to have realised that they must improve safety to save money and keep a motivated personnel.”

Dealing with claims against an organisation that must necessarily be secretive can never be easy. All reporting on military personnel claims for post-traumatic stress disorder is, for example, prevented by an injunction. This is due to be reviewed next month. Patrick Allen, senior partner at Hodge Jones & Allen, lead solicitors dealing with Gulf War illness, says: “Soldiers accept the normal risks of war but some of the things that have happened to many of them were abnormal dangers. A no-fault policy should apply. We want soldiers to have the morale to fight and we owe them a debt of honour.”

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