The Statistics

• Between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2017, 134 UK Regular Armed Forces personnel were medically discharged with a principal condition of epilepsy.
• On 01 January 2018, 292 serving UK Regular Armed Forces personnel were identified with epilepsy.
• Between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2017 there were no serving/ex-serving Armed Forces personnel awarded compensation under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) for a primary condition of epilepsy.
  • However, there were 37 personnel who were awarded compensation for epilepsy which has either resulted from or is highly likely to result from a service attributable head/brain injury.
  • AFCS awards for a primary condition of epilepsy were interpreted as cases of epilepsy with no apparent cause.
• Since 01 January 2010, a minimum of 39 UK Regular Armed Forces personnel, both serving and veterans, were identified with epilepsy due to a trauma.

Points to Note

• The above numbers are not mutually exclusive.
• Some have been taken as numbers over time (longitudinal).
• Others are taken as at single points in time (cross-sectional).
• Therefore it is not accurate to add these numbers together.

You can read the full FOI (FOI 2018-01619 – No of Personnel Discharged due to Epilepsy (2018-02-23)) which provides further information on:

• The Principal cause of discharge code and read codes;
• The Defence Medical Information Capability Programme (DMICP); and
• The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS).