A ground-breaking agreement with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) involving former armed forces personnel who suffer from noise-induced hearing loss has been approved by the High Court.

The MoD has accepted that it owed a duty of care to veterans, and that exposure to noise during service resulted in hearing loss. The MoD has previously contested claims on grounds that service personnel should have worn hearing protection, that other noise sources were to blame, or that claims were brought too late. However, it has paid compensation of £72 million in more than 9,000 cases between 2012 and 2020.

The settlement negotiated with the MoD directly affects around 5,000 ex-service personnel, who will only need to prove that they suffered hearing loss during their time in the military in order to receive compensation, with the amount being based on when they left the armed forces. In other cases, the MoD may dispute the extent to which noise exposure during service resulted in hearing loss. This and other issues will be the subject of a trial expected to take place towards the end of 2025.

The agreement applies to those who have served in the regular or reserve armed forces since 1987.