If you served in the armed forces and brought a claim against the Ministry of Defence for hearing damage, you trusted a solicitor to value that claim correctly and to fight for everything you were entitled to. An undersettled claim is one where that didn't happen — where the settlement you accepted was significantly lower than the claim was actually worth.
Crucially, undersettlement is rarely the veteran's fault. It usually flows from how the claim was handled: evidence that wasn't gathered, losses that weren't pursued, or advice that was never clearly given.
Two different claims — don't confuse them
This is the single most important thing to understand:
- Your original claim was against the MOD, for causing your noise-induced hearing loss or tinnitus. That claim has settled and ended.
- An undersettlement claim is a brand-new, separate claim against your former solicitor or claims firm, for professional negligence in the way they handled the first claim.
This is also distinct from the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) tariff. We're talking about civil claims for negligence that were handled by a legal adviser and settled too cheaply — not the fixed-tariff government scheme.
How does a claim get undersettled?
Hearing loss claims are deceptively complex to value. The injury itself is only part of the picture. The biggest value often lies in the financial consequences — and these are exactly what gets missed:
- Future loss of earnings where hearing damage affected your career or led to medical discharge.
- Loss of pension and other service benefits.
- The lifetime cost of hearing aids, replacements and audiology support.
- Failing to instruct the right medical experts, so the severity is understated.
- Settling on general damages alone, ignoring special damages entirely.
When one or more of these is overlooked, the settlement figure can end up a fraction of the claim's true value.
Who can bring an undersettlement claim?
You may have grounds if you previously settled a military hearing loss or tinnitus claim through a solicitor or claims management company and you now believe — or have been told — that it settled for too little. You don't need to prove the negligence yourself; that's our job. You simply need to raise the question.
In some cases, families bring claims on behalf of a veteran who has since lost capacity, or on behalf of an estate. The starting point is always the same: a free review of what happened.
A settlement is only as good as the advice and evidence behind it. If the homework wasn't done, the figure can't be right.
Not sure whether this applies to you? The next step is to learn the tell-tale signs of an undersettled claim, or simply ask us for a free review.