Troubles pensions assessments 'must be sensitive'

The victims commissioner has said face-to-face assessments for a new Troubles pension "must be handled sensitively".

Most people will be assessed on medical records, but face-to-face assessments will be used if this is not possible.

"We have advised that [face-to-face] assessment must be carried out sensitively and in a way that is always supported," she said.

Payments will range from £2,000 to £10,000 every year for the rest of a victim's life.

Ms Thompson was speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Ulster following Friday's announcement that a judge-led board will decide who will qualify for the new scheme for people who were injured during the Troubles.

Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith signed legislation to establish the scheme for people injured "through no fault of their own".

This means anyone convicted of taking part in an attack which caused them to be injured - for example bombers who were caught up in their own explosion - would not qualify for the pension.

Ms Thompson said there would be as little face-to-face assessment as possible and anyone who had to go through this would be supported.

She said: "For paper-based assessment the principle is there in this legislation. If you have medical records going back for decades - whether those are of psychological or physical injury - then the panel will attempt to make a decision on your injuries based on those.

"Only when it is not possible to do that will face-to-face assessment be used.

"We have advised that that assessment must be carried out sensitively and in a way that is always supported.

"There isn't a way of guaranteeing an assessment will not be traumatic - there just isn't. So you do as little of it as you can, you build in support for anyone considering taking part in that process

Ms Thompson added: "Even if those people do not come away from this process with a cash payment, they should come away from it with a clear understanding of what can make their lives better and an offer of that help."

She said the new pensions do "something to acknowledge harm", adding : "We should never be satisfied we have done enough."

"It is going to give a better life to people, many of whom have been stuck in a vacuum for decades with the disagreement around this."

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DUP leader Arlene Foster welcomed the stipulations surrounding the payments, saying the money "will not be awarded to victim makers".

But Sinn Féin's Chris Hazzard said the rule created a "hierarchy of victims".

The campaign group Relatives for Justice agreed, and accused the government of using the scheme to promote its "own partial narrative of the past".

The payment scheme follows years of debate and controversy about the best way to support people who were badly wounded during more than 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland.

Victims' groups have long argued that those left with life-changing injuries needed and deserved ongoing financial support from the state.

But many critics were concerned that former paramilitaries, including those injured by bombs they had planted, could be eligible for payments.

While those convicted of taking part in an attack which caused them to be injured will be automatically excluded, the panel can make decisions about whether payments should be made "where there is compelling evidence that a payment would not be appropriate".

The Troubles claimed more than 3,500 lives and the Northern Ireland Office has estimated that a further 40,000 people were injured.

Eligible victims will have to apply for the payments, and the scheme will open for applications at the end of May 2020.