LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme

16:00:00

I beg to move, That this House has considered the LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme. I am grateful for the opportunity to bring this important debate to Westminster Hall. I begin by thanking all colleagues present; I am happy to take interventions. I also thank those joining us in the Gallery, especially my constituent Liz, whose story first alerted me to this issue. In preparing for today’s debate, I have been deeply moved by the countless personal stories that I have heard: stories of lives devastated, careers destroyed, and justice long denied. For context, before 2000, LGBT individuals were banned from serving in the UK armed forces. It is estimated that around 20,000 service personnel were dismissed or forced out under that discriminatory policy. The independent review, led with dignity and compassion by the late Lord Etherton and commissioned in 2023, was a welcome step, but let us be honest: it came far too late, 23 years after the ban was lifted, with many veterans not living to see an apology or their berets and medals returned. Lord Etherton’s review exposed the systematic mistreatment of LGBT service personnel on the Ministry of Defence’s watch. The findings were harrowing. Veterans were subjected to deeply invasive and degrading investigations based solely on suspicions of homosexual activity. Investigations often lasted months, yet individuals were sometimes given only a week’s notice before being dismissed. Interrogations were intensely personal and accusatory in nature. Physical examinations were also conducted, including internal procedures on both men and women in a misguided attempt to prove same-sex sexual activity. People were sent to psychiatrists, where so-called conversion therapy was suggested as a means to remain in service. These practices included electro-convulsive treatments and the use of drugs—treatments that were cruel, dehumanising and wholly indefensible.

I commend the hon. Lady for securing this debate. I spoke to her yesterday and am very conscious of the importance of it. Those people volunteered to serve in uniform. They protected this country and its people to the best of their ability, and the result was discrimination, abuse and the things that the hon. Lady has outlined. Does she feel that now, at long last, through recognition by the previous Minister, the current Minister and the Government, we have justice, and justice is really what it is all about?

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to reflect on the fact that the policy that has been put in place means justice for those veterans. Today I will speak about the speed at which we actually see justice served for veterans who suffered wholly indefensible treatment. Nobody decides to go into the military lightly. It is a commitment to their country. As a result of the policy, many veterans lost not only their careers and pensions, but their medals, their reputations and in some cases they acquired criminal records without even being informed. Many had never disclosed their sexuality to friends or family and were then put in an impossible position of keeping the reason for their dismissal a secret, or having to share their sexuality. The consequences were profound. Veterans were left feeling humiliated and hounded out of service. Highly successful careers ended prematurely. Many found themselves suddenly without direction, with no time to prepare for civilian life. Many struggled to find new work. Some became homeless. Their future plans were torn to shreds, and they were left to rebuild their lives. The personal cost of that trauma is immeasurable: families were torn apart, livelihoods were destroyed and relationships were ruined.

I thank the hon. Member for securing this important debate. Does she agree that the injustices faced by people who were forced out of the armed forces because of their sexuality have had profound and long-lasting impacts on their mental health, financial wellbeing and career prospects? Those impacts endure today.

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. It is impossible to measure the scale of the impact on all those veterans, be it emotional, financial or in terms of the homes they ended up buying or places they ended up living. It is impossible to measure the effect exactly, but it was profound. Countless veterans were left with enduring feelings of shame and low self-esteem, as the Etherton report noted. These individuals had dedicated their lives to serving their country, only to realise, in the cruellest of ways, that the state had turned its back on them.

I congratulate the hon. Lady on bringing this subject to the Chamber. Is she as mystified as I am by the fact that, when serving in the armed forces was at its most dangerous and there was conscription—namely during the second world war—people were only too happy for warriors of any sexuality to participate, and that many people of non-heterosexual orientation won gallantry medals, with no questions asked and full admiration rightly expressed?

The right hon. Gentleman raises an important point. Those LGBT veterans were welcome to fight for their country when they were needed, but this nonsensical policy was introduced only in the ’60s. For too many, the weight of the betrayal that they felt proved too heavy to bear. Tragically, some veterans committed suicide following their dismissal.

I thank the hon. Lady for securing this important debate. I am here today on behalf of my constituents in North Warwickshire and Bedworth, as well as friends of mine who have been affected by this historical injustice, which can only be described as a shameful period in our history. Today, I want every LGBT veteran to feel proud of their service to our country. Does she agree that we must ensure that LGBT veterans who were wrongly dismissed do not face any further injustice by having to wait for the compensation that they are rightly owed?

The hon. Member raises an important point. There are constituents in every one of our constituencies who were wronged, and I am grateful to her for raising the plight of her constituents in this regard. She is right that we cannot wait any longer for justice to be served. I pay tribute to those individuals who will never see justice served; they will not see a penny of reparation or an apology from the state for their cruel treatment. They deserved better. The Etherton report is remarkable in its scope and sensitivity. The Government accepted all its recommendations, and the apologies that followed, the plans for memorials, and the returning of medals and caps would not have been possible without it. Today, we must focus on one of the most critical elements for veterans: financial reparations. Last December, the Government announced a £75 million compensation fund, with individual payments of up to £70,000 for LGBT veterans who were affected by the ban. The announcement was welcomed across the House as an acknowledgment, at last, of the scale of harm inflicted. However, I secured this debate because the implementation of the scheme has been woefully inadequate. The delivery has been painfully slow, and the communication from the Ministry of Defence has been appalling. That is not justice delivered. It is justice delayed, and as we all know, justice delayed is justice denied.

I thank the hon. Lady for giving way. I also thank the Minister, who I know is personally invested in and has been a champion on this issue. He has the respect of the House and, more importantly, of the veterans concerned. I am concerned about the pace of the scheme. One of my constituents, who is a veteran, wrote to me to say that he is 77 and has prostate cancer, two brain tumours, heart disease and other complications. We have taken this up with the MOD, yet he still has no certainty about when he might get payments and the justice that the hon. Lady talked about. Does she agree that it is now incumbent on the MOD to demonstrate that it is doing everything possible to get the payments out as quickly as possible and finally deliver justice?

I appreciate the hon. Member’s intervention. He is absolutely right. I will come on to the fact that the scheme prioritises those who are over the age of 80 or have terminal diagnoses. That needs to be communicated to them so that they understand where their application is in the process. Some of these veterans, like the hon. Member’s constituent, have been waiting for 25 years since the ban was lifted. In some cases, they have been waiting up to 60 years for any form of recognition or redress. The charity Fighting With Pride estimates that, at the current rate, it could take five years to clear the existing backlog. That is wholly unacceptable, particularly given the age and health of many applicants. Time is not a luxury they can afford. From the accounts I have received from veterans, the process is riddled with obstacles. Many of them have received the non-financial reparations, such as returned medals, regimental caps or letters from the Prime Minister, only to be told that they must provide additional documentation, such as military records, to claim the financial compensation. I am fully aware that someone who applies for the non-financial reparations may choose not to subsequently apply for the financial reparations or may not qualify, but surely that process can be streamlined. We could frontload it: when someone applies for the non-financial redress, their military records could be requested in anticipation of a possible financial reparation. That would ease the burden on applicants and speed up the overall process. The Ministry’s communication has been woeful. Applicants were told to expect an update within 18 weeks. When those updates failed to materialise, many were left anxious and in the dark, fearing that their applications had been lost or rejected. For the hundreds of veterans who have waited years—decades—for justice, these delays are retraumatising. They are being forced to relive some of the most painful chapters of their lives, only to be met with silence from the very institution that wronged them.

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate on a vital issue. I am very proud to have her as a colleague. She is a fantastic representative of her constituents. A constituent of mine, Adrian Radford, has been waiting decades for justice to be done. As my hon. Friend said, with every delay he has to relive the abuse and trauma that he and many like him suffered. With just 44 people having received payments out of 1,200 applications, will my hon. Friend join me in urging the Minister to commit to scaling up the delivery team with urgency so that we can finally deliver justice?

The experience of my hon. Friend’s constituent reflects that of many others who feel abandoned and ignored. The MOD committed to updating applicants to the scheme within 18 weeks of their application, but that has not happened and has further deepened the emotional distress by reopening old wounds, as my hon. Friend said. I am very pleased, as I said before, that my constituent Liz is in the Public Gallery. Liz’s story mirrors that of so many affected by the policy. She was discharged from the RAF in 1969 after private letters between her and her girlfriend at the time were discovered. When her girlfriend failed to meet her one evening, Liz learned that she had been arrested by military police. Liz was then coerced into providing a statement, which led directly to her dismissal. She only discovered decades later when applying for this scheme that she had also been given a criminal conviction for same-sex sexual activity. That conviction has followed her unknowingly for her entire adult life and may have affected numerous aspects of it without her knowledge. Liz is one of the few who has received her compensation, which was fast-tracked due to health concerns. I am pleased to learn that both the dismissed and discharged scheme and the impact scheme are prioritising veterans over 80 and those with serious health conditions, but that will represent a large cohort. I move on to my questions for the Minister. According to Fighting With Pride, 84 payments have been made out of a total of more than 1,200 applications since the scheme went live in December. I had to get that information from Fighting With Pride because the MOD does not publish the number of successful applications on a rolling basis, which fuels mistrust. Will the Government confirm today how many veterans have received compensation in the dismissed or discharged scheme and the impact scheme, and what percentage of claimants that represents? Will the Minister commit to a simple weekly update? Even a tweet—is it still called a tweet?—would go a long way in rebuilding faith in the process. The DD scheme is currently managed by a very small number of civil servants. That scheme is for the larger sum of £50,000, and it deals with the simple question of whether the veteran was dismissed or discharged for their sexuality or perceived sexuality. Will the Minister increase the capacity to come to a decision on cases by increasing the number of civil servants working on the DD scheme so that it does not take the predicted five years to clear all the cases? I recognise that the impact scheme, which requires a decision by a panel chaired by Lord Paddick, deals with a far more complex area of impact payments that can be awarded up to the value of £20,000. The panel is sometimes presented with up to 600 pages of records for one veteran, and therefore the preparation time needed before a panel is extensive. The panel attempts to hear 10 cases per sitting, up from six at the start of the process. Will the Minister please give serious consideration to appointing a secondary panel with a secondary chair, as the most sitting days that the current panel can manage is two a week, with two days for preparation and reading? Now that the internal IT problems have apparently been resolved, will all veterans who have applied for either scheme be provided with an update 18 weeks after their application and every 18 weeks subsequently until a decision is reached, as the MOD previously promised? Will the information that will apparently be available on the portal be accessible to all, even those who are not tech savvy? Will the Government take the steps outlined to streamline the process of compensation, ensuring that the collection of military records is front-loaded when applications are received so that there is no delay in the claim being processed? Is the £75 million for reparations a ringfenced fund that will be extended if the number of applicants exceeds the fund? If so, where will the additional funding come from? I thank everyone who got in touch ahead of today’s debate, including Fighting With Pride, the Minister and all Members who came to share their constituents’ stories and show support for speeding up the scheme. We need to do better to ensure this dark period in our history has an ending that recognises the magnitude of the injustice faced by so many veterans. There is not a moment to lose.

16:17:00

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I thank the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) for securing this important debate and for her wider efforts to ensure that LGBT veterans are properly and promptly compensated for past injuries, injustices and wrongdoings. I also thank Fighting With Pride. I came into this job nigh on a year ago, and I often say that courage is not a reaction but a decision. The ability of its members to shout when being pushed down and told to be quiet has really raised this issue over the past couple of decades and brought it to where we are today. I am also grateful to right hon. and hon. Members who have fought valiantly on this issue, not just while I have been in post but previously. Importantly, I thank the late Lord Etherton. It is unfortunate that he is not here today; nevertheless, the foundations of the programme lie with him and he should be deeply honoured. The hon. Member for Chichester has helped to shine a spotlight on a truly dark era in military history. When I joined the military in 1999, the ban was still in place, LGBT personnel suffered horrific mistreatment and abuse, and homophobic bullying and sexual violence were absolutely widespread. That injustice has cast a long shadow over the lives of so many. Many dedicated professionals had their ambition in life cut short by those rules and regulations. My view that it is an injustice was powerfully reflected in the late Lord Etherton’s independent review in 2023. It is an injustice that placed the Ministry of Defence on the wrong side of history. It is an injustice that the Government are determined, and have done so much, to address. Lord Etherton’s review, with all its recommendations, was submitted to the Government in May 2023 and published in the summer of that year, so there was a year between then and our coming into government. In the time that we have been in government, we have delivered a lot, although there is more to do. After much deliberation, we launched the financial recognition scheme. Up and down, left and right—not in our Government, perhaps—individuals were concerned that the payments were not enough or would not be processed in the right manner, but this Government raised the budget to £75 million. The scheme will be open for one year, but I want to be absolutely clear, as I have been with the previous and current heads of Fighting With Pride, and assure all LGBT veterans that, if they are eligible and apply, they will receive their payment.[Official Report, 15 July 2025; Vol. 771, c. 1WC.] (Correction) Even if that extends, we will live by that commitment. Importantly, if the payments exceed £75 million, those who are eligible and apply will still receive their FRS payment. We will absolutely live by that. I have taken huge pride in how fast we have got here, and we will deliver. I met Fighting With Pride this week and heard veterans’ concerns. We are looking in detail at the financial recognition scheme, and I will say more on that after I have given a progress update. As of 30 June, the Government have completed 42 out of 49 recommendations of Lord Etherton’s review. I saw one of those recommendations the other day: the memorial that will be built, which is looking fantastic. Five more recommendations are pending ministerial approval. Some of those do not sit within our Department, but we are almost there. We will complete those as fast as we can. I am pleased to update hon. Members on the progress of the financial recognition scheme, which acknowledges the harm inflicted by the ban and offers tangible recognition to those who were affected. The Government have been unequivocal and I have been committed to ensuring that we right the wrongs of the past. The Prime Minister, the Defence Secretary and the chiefs of services have all expressed their deep regret for the unacceptable treatment of LGBT personnel. The scheme that launched in December 2024 is a tangible demonstration of that commitment. As I said, we have raised the budget to £75 million. I hope that brings affirmation and some measure of closure to those who have waited far too long for consecutive UK Governments to address the damage of those times. On slow payments, I must address the important issue that the hon. Member for Chichester rightly raised: the timely delivery of payment to veterans who have served the country with courage and distinction. The rate at which those deserved payments are being processed is an issue that is causing considerable concern to constituents. I take note of the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven (Chris Ward) about an individual who may be terminally ill or elderly. I want to be clear that part of the reason the process has been quite slow is because we have focused on the terminally ill, the elderly and the most complex cases first. I made a commitment to Fighting With Pride that we would do that to ensure that no one misses out on payments due to illness or age. That has contributed, although it is not the sole reason, to the speed and delivery of payments, but I will stick by it because it has to be a No. 1 priority. We are almost through what we think are most of those claims. I assure hon. Members that we are taking decisive action to deliver payments more swiftly and efficiently. I will mention a couple of things that we are doing. We are boosting resources and allocating extra staff and funding to ensure that claims are processed more quickly, so veterans receive the support they deserve. A key reason for delay has been problems with the automated payment system. We acknowledge that and are looking into it. We are trying to process claims as quickly as possible. The system will get faster the more claims that we process, so we think it will speed up. That will streamline the process and reduce the administrative bottleneck, which is significant. Let us remember that a lot of the files and data are not held digitally, so it is not a case of a Google search. There are Yellow Pages-sized files sitting in hangars all over the UK, so it takes time. We are also increasing the frequency of sittings of the independent panel to two a week, hoping that the automatic system will catch up, to reduce waiting times. Although there is still work to be done, I am confident that those combined measures will speed up the system. In addition to the commitments that I made earlier, the LGBT community should be assured that no one will miss out. The issue about front-loading some of the military records when the non-financial redress scheme kicked in was that no one had agreed to or committed to the financial redress scheme, so we did not know what was required in the first place. That was not this Government but previous Governments. We did not front-load that; a lot of the non-financial redress schemes were already completed or under way. On the 18 weeks for information, I will get back to the hon. Member for Chichester with the statistics on how we process that. We will have an electronic copy of that, so I will be sure to write to her with the detail. On the civil servants, the only thing I would say, and I say it relatively gently, is that those civil servants with the expertise to focus on the payments are the same civil servants who are writing ministerial correspondence back to people. The more ministerial correspondence that we get, the more time they are spending on that, rather than on processing claims. I will say this: after the Ministry of Defence broke the trust of LGBT communities, please now have the trust that we will deliver on this guarantee for you. I will provide a bit of transparency on the details of the scheme and answer some of the questions put by hon. Members. As of 7 July, we have received many applications for the scheme. Of those, 944 were submitted online and 162 were received as hard-copy applications. To break that down a bit further, there were 242 applications for the dismissed or discharged payment only; 250 applications for the impact payment only; and 614 applications for both payments.

The Minister may recall that in an earlier armed forces debate, I raised the case of Kate Green, a Royal Military Police veteran who felt compelled to leave the service just before the ban was lifted. Will he join me in highlighting the fact that the impact scheme makes provision for people who felt compelled to leave and that they, too, can apply for compensation?

My hon. Friend is absolutely correct and I champion what he says. For anyone out there who has not made an application, please get in touch and process it as fast as possible. I will give a couple more statistics for the record. The first payments were made just 15 weeks after the scheme’s official launch and I am pleased to report that we have now paid over £4.2 million in total in the redress scheme. There were payments to 84 applicants for the dismissed or discharged payment, with each applicant receiving over £50,000. Additionally, we have made £82,000 in impact payments to 11 applicants, ranging from £1,000 to £2,000.[Official Report, 15 July 2025; Vol. 771, c. 2WC.] (Correction) I see the scheme speeding up considerably in the not-so-distant future. It is worth noting that all payments are exempt from income tax, which was one of the key issues for Fighting With Pride when we moved forward with the scheme. Furthermore, payments will not affect any means-tested benefits, such as universal credit, income support or housing benefit, which is also critical. Now, I have a message for anyone listening to this debate, or for anyone pushing out details about it on social media. I urge all those affected by the ban while serving between 1967 and 2000 to read the guidance, and to please apply for financial recognition via the “Veterans of the LGBT Ban: Financial Recognition Scheme” page on gov.uk. They have my word and a commitment that if this process extends for longer than a year, we will keep going and we will ensure that individuals who put in a claim get it resolved as quickly as possible. I will also say that the scheme is not necessarily just about financial recognition. It is also about acknowledging the sacrifices and indeed the injustices faced by LGBT veterans, and ensuring that their experiences are recognised and indeed valued.

I hear the Minister’s call loud and clear that the process will be slowed down if there is lots of ministerial correspondence to answer. Can I therefore ask him to provide a regular update from the MOD so that hon. Members on both sides of the House do not feel like they need to continually chase things up on behalf of their constituents?

That is a really valid point and I will make sure that there is a communication strategy put in place to ensure that both the individuals affected and hon. Members from all parties are kept up to date on the scheme’s progress. Again, I thank everybody for raising issues; people should keep raising them if they see them. We will change, test, adjust and move forward as fast as we can. The Defence Secretary and I remain committed to driving this work forward until every recommendation of Lord Etherton’s review is implemented. As I said before, when I joined the armed forces, the ban on homosexuality was still in place, which is just madness if we think about it now. Of course times have changed, but the financial recognition scheme is our acknowledgment that we must move forward faster than anyone else and increase the resources available from Government, and that no matter when these events occurred, they were completely wrong and we will redress them. To all those affected by these past failings, I say—from me to you—that we hear you, we absolutely value you and we are committed to righting the wrongs of the past. Question put and agreed to.