Veterans and their supporters are calling the Conservative government's proposed changes to support payments for injured war veterans a good, if somewhat modest start.

But many are quick to add that their main complaints with the system have yet to be addressed.

Pat Stogran, the veterans ombudsman and former army colonel, told CTV's Canada AM that Veterans Affairs bureaucrats are at the heart of the problems facing the hundreds of wounded veterans of missions such as Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia.

"All along, I have not been pointing my finger at elected officials," said Stogran, himself a veteran of the Afghan mission. "My concern has been the bureaucracy … cheating veterans."

"If the government is truly sincere in making sure that things work for the veterans, they would give the ombudsman – myself or my successor – the mandate to muck out the system."

Stung by criticism from Stogran and other Canadian Forces veterans, the government held a news conferences Sunday to outline its new five-year plan to help veterans, including an additional $200 million over the next five years for veterans unable to work because of their injuries.

Veterans Affairs Minister Jean Pierre Blackburn said those veterans will be given up to $1,000 a month in addition to other benefits, for the rest of their lives.

They are already be entitled to 75 per cent of their salaries and a permanent monthly allowance of $536 to $1,609.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay told Canada AM that the changes announced Sunday will go a long way to help "those most grievously injured" by boosting their support payments to a level that they can live on.

"It will help," he said. "It'll go a long way, but we're not done there. There is more to come: this is the first instalment of another wave of changes that we're going to make to address some of the concerns raised by Mr. Stogran and others."

"What I would say to our veterans (is) please be patient, I know you've waited a long time but we want to make sure that we get this right."

Many wounded veterans have complained their benefits are handed out by penny-pinching bureaucrats in Veterans Affairs and worry that any extra cash will get lost in the department's red tape.

"Putting money in the top end of this does not necessarily mean that it's going to filter out to actually help troops on the bottom," Stogran warned.

"The culture that exists within the department … is very much a ‘Deny, deny, deny' – an insurance company approach to the business."

Other veterans are still waiting for the Tories to address their main complaint about the new system of lump sum payments and income replacement cheques, which are part of the New Veteran's Charter.

Veterans who have lost limbs, eyesight, hearing or speech receive a one-time payment through the military's accidental dismemberment insurance plan, but a study commissioned by the veterans ombudsman's office concluded that the system short-changed low-income soldiers and the most severely disabled veterans.

Injured soldiers are given a lump sum cash pay-out and a monthly income replacement cheque while they are in rehabilitation. The cheques stop when they switch to a civilian job.

Many veterans say the one-time payments pale in comparison to the post-Second World War practice of granting lifetime pensions.

Afghan veteran Paul Franklin, who lost both legs in an explosion in a convoy in Afghanistan in 2006, said he hopes the issue will be addressed soon.

"I don't think the financial commitment of $1,000 a month is anywhere near enough," Franklin told The Canadian Press.

"You've got someone that's out of work — how are they supposed to use that $1,000 for rent and home ownership and all those other huge expenses of life?

"Hopefully... our lump-sum benefit will be increased."

MacKay said the government is committed to improving support for its veterans and want to fast-track legislation to improve benefits through the House of Commons.

"We're going to make sure that we do our part to support those that have done so much for our country."