Military Claims

Service Complaints

If you would like to raise a military service complaint or you’ve raised one that has been rejected and would like help with the next steps, our solicitors can help. We’ll make sure your concerns are heard and taken seriously.

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What is a military service complaint?

If you have an issue at work that is not being resolved, whether it is with your superiors or colleagues, you may have to consider raising a military service complaint. Issues such as bullying in the form of harassment or discrimination are serious and you have a right to report it.

The armed forces services complaints process is the military’s equivalent of a civilian grievance process. It can be stressful and time-consuming.

Our specialist military claims lawyers can help you through the process and have experience in dealing with a wide variety of complaints at all stages of the service complaint process, including:

Sexual harassment
Racial discrimination
LGBTQ+ discrimination
Career fouling and mismanagement
Unfair OJARS and SJARS
Service complaint appeals and hearings
Applications to the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces.

Why make a military service complaint?

Some service personnel may be wary of or even distrustful of the military service complaints process. The way the military handles harassment and discrimination claims can leave a lot to be desired. You will need good evidence, guidance and support.

You can be assured that we will handle your army service complaint case sensitively and confidentially. We can advise you on whether the outcome will entitle you to bring a civil claim for compensation and, if necessary, take action to protect your legal rights while your military service complaint is being investigated.

How can a lawyer help with a military service complaint?

All our lawyers in the military claim team have specialist experience in dealing with army service complaints. Our Head of the Military Claims Group has also given evidence before Parliament as a subject-matter expert and provides regular contributions to stories in the national press on the welfare of service personnel.

Our team will investigate your case and collect evidence to prove how your injury happened and the losses that you have suffered. Where we can establish good prospects of success, we will pursue a claim for you to be fully compensated.

We will arrange for you to be assessed by experts who will report on your medical condition and the treatment you will need. We will also instruct other experts to advise on your financial losses and the impact on your life and your career.

In addition to a civil claim, you may be entitled to bring a claim under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS), and we can help you with this too.

If you think you have a claim then please contact us. We work on a no-win, no-fee basis. You can discuss your case with one of our specialist solicitors in complete confidence and without charge. It takes courage to complain, but you should not suffer in silence.

Armed Forces Compensation Scheme

Harassment & Bullying in the Military

How to make a military compensation claim

Military Fatalities

Military Injuries Abroad and Combat Immunity

Military Injury Compensation Claims

Military Maritime, Diving and Aviation Injuries

Military Medical Negligence

Military Personal Injury

Success Story

Reservist suffers racial harassment

We represented a former sergeant in the Army Reserves who suffered racial harassment and received no support from his superiors. Sadly, he suffered a breakdown that resulted in his medical discharge. He then developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), meaning he was unable to work at all.

Our client raised a military service complaint that was rejected, so he appealed to an appeal panel and later to the Service Complainants Ombudsman for the Armed Forces. He succeeded in proving some allegations but was not compensated for his injuries.

To support him, we brought a claim under the Protection From Harassment Act in the civil courts. Despite our client’s success in the early stages of the process, the Ministry of Defence wouldn’t accept his claim for harassment entirely.

The case went to trial and eventually settled, meaning our client secured compensation that allowed him to move forward.

Read Story

Meet our Military Claims Team

Ahmed Al-Nahhas

Head of Military Claims

Gaggan Mawi

Partner – Part of the Military Claims Team

Hannah Swarbrick

Senior Associate – Part of the Military Claims Team

Claire Withey

Associate – Part of the Military Claims Team

Meet the full team

FAQs

What steps can I take before raising a military service complaint?
It may be possible to resolve your matter before resorting to a military service complaint. It is recommended that you do the following:
- Speak or write to the person responsible for the matter you are complaining about
- Ask the chain of command or a colleague to look into the matter
- Ask for mediation
What does the Ministry of Defence Service Complaint Process involve?
The Service Complaint Process is designed to be effective, efficient and fair with a goal of dealing with complaints as soon as possible and at the lowest appropriate level.
1. Fill in a service complaint form (Annex F in JSP831) and give this to your Single Service Secretariat. The person you make your complaint to is known as the ‘specified officer’.
2. The specified officer might contact you to discuss things further and may get legal advice to determine whether the matter can be treated as a formal complaint. If it is treated as a formal complaint, you will be informed of this, and the complaint will go to the next step of the military service complaints If the specified officer decides that the matter can’t be treated as a formal complaint and you disagree with this, the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces can review this for you.
3. The Single Service Secretariat will appoint a decision body to investigate the complaint and that person will contact you during their investigation. You will be able to give them further information and suggest witnesses. The decision body will have to agree to evidence, and witnesses being used throughout.
4. The decision body will send you a copy of the investigation report and you will be able to give comments to be taken into account. The decision body will then write to you with their decision and any action that will be taken.
Certain types of army service complaints should follow special-to-type procedures, including complaints about:
- Housing
- Pay and allowances
- Healthcare and medical treatment
You can view more details about the redress of individual grievances and service complaints.
What options do I have if I disagree with the decision made after making a military service complaint?

You have two weeks from the date that you receive a decision to appeal against it. To do this, you’ll need to fill in an appeal form (Annex G in JSP831) and send it to your Single Service Secretariat. It is then up to them whether your appeal can be considered. If it can, they will appoint an appeal body. If not, you have other options.

You can seek additional help from an assisting officer, which you can choose yourself or have appointed for you by your unit’s HR team. You can also get assistance from the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces. You can seek support from a lawyer for military service complaint support. This way, you can obtain legal advice from the get-go and potentially bypass strenuous processes or at least get professional help with them.
Who are the Service Complaints Ombudsman?
You can seek independent and impartial insight from the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces, which oversees the armed forces service complaint system.

You can contact the ombudsman during the service complaints process and ask them to assist with the following:
- Accessing the complaints system through the referrals team
- Reviewing any decision not to treat a matter as a formal complaint
- Reviewing any decision not to consider an appeal
- Investigating delays in the process
- Investigating issues relating to the handling or outcome of a complaint
You can find out more information about the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces here.
Are there time limits for making a military service complaint?

Time limits for raising a military service complaint can be very strict and these are normally three months from the date of the incident that you are complaining about. However, it will be six months if your complaint involves discrimination, harassment or victimisation.

Where you have suffered a number of incidents of harassment, then the time limit normally runs from the date of the most recent incident. You may be able to bring a service complaint out of time in special circumstances.

In addition to an armed forces service complaint, there are a number of civil military claims that you could bring and these may all have different time limits, so it is important that you get clear advice as soon as possible – preferably at the very start of the process. If you wait until the process is finished, it could mean that you are too late to bring a claim for compensation for a poorly dealt with army service complaint.

Our Insights

Hannah Swarbrick writes for Law Society Gazette, 22 November 2024

By Hannah Swarbrick

Natasha Mason writes for Forces News, 20 November 2024

By Natasha Mason

Mental Health in the Military: What more needs to be done?

In this episode, Hannah Swarbrick, Senior Associate in our Military Claims team speaks to Claire Withey, Associate also in the Military Claims team. The pair talk about how mental…

By Hannah Swarbrick

Natasha Mason speaks on Radio Devon, 11 November 2024

By Natasha Mason

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