Letter: There's still time to apply to Troubles disability payment scheme - and SEFF can help

It acknowledges the harm suffered by those injured in the NI Troubles/conflict and aims to promote reconciliation between people in connection with NI’s troubled past.

The scheme can provide payments to those who have suffered a permanent disability (physical and/or psychological) as a result of an injury caused through no fault of their own, in an incident related to the Troubles.

An individual’s application will need to meet a number of criteria to be entitled to payments.

For example, an injury caused by a Troubles-related incident must have resulted in a permanent disability level of at least 14% as assessed by a suitably qualified healthcare professional.

The scheme has been operating since August 2021 and SEFF (who support innocent victims/survivors of the violence across Northern Ireland and through outreach services into Republic of Ireland and Great Britain) are one of five groups within the victim/survivor sector to have welfare staff in place to support those wishing to make an application.

Support for making an application can be made through our group. We will assist you with making the application and support you throughout the process; we will aim to give you a professional and empathic service throughout.

As we reach year four of the five-year scheme, we have assisted well over 2,000 victims/survivors to submit applications, circa 11,000 applications have been submitted in total across the scheme.

There have been many awards made to those whom we have supported, providing long overdue acknowledgement and in some cases transformative sums of finance.

Within SEFF we offer a full wraparound service, and we are conscious that given the nature of this scheme where an applicant is required to share their most painful experiences that there is always a risk of traumatisation.

Please do reach out and contact our welfare service on: 028 677 23884 (option 1) or via email: [email protected] and we will ensure that someone knowledgeable speaks to you about the scheme, the known criteria and the process which requires navigating through.

We want to see those eligible for the scheme receiving the support to which they are entitled. Can it ever bring back that which was taken away? No, it cannot but it can help restore a sense of recognition of the injustice experienced and that matters to many victims and survivors.

Kenny Donaldson, South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) director