The Salvation army instructed a law firm to resolve claims from sex abuse victims "amicably" without the need for litigation, a royal commission has heard.
A representative from the firm has detailed how it went about that process from the 1990s when the first claims of physical and sexual abuse against the army started to flow.
Philip Brewin, from law firm Nevett Ford, said it was permitted to negotiate compensation payments of up to $50,000 with victims but recommendations for higher amounts had to be approved by the Salvation Army Board.
"Our brief was to attempt to resolve matters amicably, without the need for the claimant to issue proceedings," Mr Brewin said in a statement tendered to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Adelaide on Wednesday.
"We were instructed to gather information concerning the claim and those involved, and make recommendations as to appropriate remedial action, including, where appropriate and possible, the amount of any compensation that should be offered to the claimant."
Mr Brewin revealed that among the claims settled by the Salvation Army, payments for physical abuse ranged from $5,000 to $35,000 while those for sexual abuse went up to, and in some cases beyond, $50,000.
The average payment across all claims was about $40,000.
The royal commission has been investigating abuse in four of the Salvation Army's homes, at Eden Park in Adelaide, at Box Hills and Bayswater in Melbourne and at Nedlands in Perth, from 1940 to the 1980s.
It has heard from many victims who suffered horrific physical and sexual abuse, some over a number of years while they were just young children.
In his statement Mr Brewin said those children had been "betrayed" by the Salvation Army and by the individuals who offended against them.
"My colleagues and I have a huge amount of respect and sympathy for claimants," he said.
"We are not immune to the stories of abuse and mistreatment that we hear and such stories have impacted upon us significantly."
He also revealed that it was his experience that the army's records relating to the operation of its homes from 1940 to 1980 were incomplete in respect to many of those people who had made claims.
"We are unaware in many cases whether documents ever existed, or if they were subsequently lost or destroyed," he said.
"The absence of records can be a cause of concern to the claimants, who are understandably upset, and at times angry, when they are told The Salvation Army has no or limited records in relation to them."
The royal commission has now completed its hearings in Adelaide.
