AK v The Secretary of State for Defence: [2025] UKUT 032 (AAC)
Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber decision by Judge Church on 28 January 2025
Read the full decision in .
Judicial Summary
AK was a soldier with autism. He claimed compensation for mental health problems that he said were caused by his experiences serving in the British Army.
While it found that AK had been subjected to “inappropriate”, unprofessional” and offensive” behaviour from colleagues that had caused him stress, the First-tier Tribunal decided that AK’s autism was the predominant cause of his mental health problems, rather than the treatment to which he was subjected.
AK’s appeal was allowed. The Tribunal had erred in its approach to assessing causation.
It may be that AK was particularly sensitive to anxiety and stress, and it may be that this was because of his autism. It may be that he experienced as persecution incidents that others might have interpreted as “horseplay”. However, for the purposes of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, the “thin skull” approach means AK shouldn’t be denied compensation just because another soldier, who did not have autism and who experienced the same events as AK, might not have developed the same mental health condition or symptoms that he did, or experienced the same intensity of degree.