Political opinion with Josh Babarinde MP: Fighting for our injured veterans
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Our veterans have made enormous sacrifices in service to our country. Yet injured veterans are being unfairly penalised by a system that counts their military compensation as income when calculating Pension Credit and other means-tested benefits.
This stands in stark contrast to the treatment of civilian compensation, with awards for personal injury and medical negligence typically protected from being counted as income for means-tested benefits. If civilians are protected, our veterans should be too.
That’s why, ahead of this week’s Budget, I brought together 103 MPs from 11 parties, alongside the Royal British Legion, to make a simple ask of the Chancellor: end this injustice and ensure injured veterans receive the full support they deserve.
I’m hugely grateful to every MP who has backed this campaign and signed the letter. It is a powerful example of cross-party support for an issue that should transcend party politics.
Meanwhile, despite their claims to be leading voices for veterans, Reform UK and Restore Britain are the only UK-wide parties not to have signed the letter.
This letter marks the latest step in my campaign for ‘Pauline’s Law’, named in honour of the late Staff Sergeant Pauline Cole, an Eastbourne resident who was injured while serving her country in Aden.
After receiving military compensation for her injuries, Pauline saw her Pension Credit slashed from £77 a week to just under £11.
I have now raised Pauline’s case and the wider injustice eight times in Parliament, including directly with the Prime Minister and, most recently, during a dedicated Parliamentary debate.
Sadly, Pauline passed away late last year, but the fight for justice in her name continues. The Royal British Legion estimates that, as of March 2026, 4,120 veterans and widows and widowers are affected by this injustice.
I am determined to see ‘Pauline’s Law’ become a reality, so that no veteran is left financially worse off because of the injuries they sustained serving our country.