Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS)
Regional Pension Consultants
Our specialist consultants provide guidance to all serving and former members of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, their Reserves and their families on all aspects of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme, including: leaving under medical discharge and your entitlement to Ill-Health Pension Benefits, help and support in understanding Dependants Benefits and a variety of other areas where tailored practical pension guidance is needed.
Our Regional Pension Consultants are dedicated, committed and have all served in the Royal Navy or Royal Marines and understand how complex Armed Forces Pensions can be. Through their own service life experience they understand that everyone’s personal circumstances and future objectives can be different and with their expert guidance can help empower you to make informed decisions now and in the future.
They offer unbiased, independent and free guidance through personal interviews and lectures delivered at all Royal Navy and Royal Marines establishments throughout the United Kingdom and overseas on a regular basis.
Specialists
Our Regional Pension Consultants
Andy Leaver
Scotland, Northern England, Northern Ireland and Overseas
Marty Small
West, Wales and London
Dave Scholey
East
further information and FAQs
Death in Deferment AFPS75 (1975 scheme)
In the event of your death, your eligible dependants – spouse, civil partner, eligible partner or eligible children – may receive benefits. These may consist of a one-off lump sum (tax-free) and a taxable pension. If you leave the Armed Forces with a deferred pension and die before this comes into payment, your spouse or civil partner will receive a long-term pension and a lump sum. The long-term pension is equal to one half of your pension for Service given on or after 31st March 1973. The lump sum is 3 times your annual pension that would have been paid if the pension had come into payment on the day of your death.
Death in Deferment AFPS05 (2005 scheme)
If you leave the Armed Forces with a deferred pension and die before this comes into payment, your spouse, civil partner, or eligible partner will receive an immediate pension paid for life and a tax-free lump sum. This is also payable if you were in receipt of an EDP before your death. The pension is worth 62.5% of the pension that you would have received (1/70th of final pensionable earnings multiplied by reckonable service).The lump sum is your deferred pension lump sum.
Death in Deferment AFPS15 (2015 scheme)
If you leave the Armed Forces with a deferred pension and die before this comes into payment, your spouse, civil partner, or eligible partner will receive an immediate pension paid for life and a tax-free lump sum. This is also payable if you were in receipt of an EDP before your death. The immediate pension is the same as your deferred pension, and your spouse, civil partner, or eligible partner will receive 62.5% of this amount. A death lump sum is paid to your nominee, spouse, civil partner, eligible partner or personal representative, it is equal to your deferred pension multiplied by 3.
The payment of the pension and lump sum is not automatic and is claimed by contacting DBS Veterans UK.
When can I receive my pension?
Your age and the amount of paid Service you complete determines the point at which you are entitled to benefits:
– If you leave the Service at age 60 (normal pension age) or over, you will be entitled to an immediate pension.
– If you leave the Service before age 60 (normal pension age), you will become a deferred member and will be entitled to a deferred pension paid at State Pension Age.
Deferred Pension
If you leave the Armed Forces before age 60 (normal pension age), and are not receiving an ill-health pension, a deferred pension is kept for you for payment from your individual State Pension Age. You can ask for your deferred pension to be paid from age 55, but the amount of pension will be reduced because it will be in payment for longer.
If you are in Regular Service and leave the Services before age 60, you might also be eligible for an Early Departure Payment (EDP)
The Early Departure Payment (EDP) Scheme aims to retain personnel in Service through to at least age 40 and to compensate for the fact that a full career to age 60 (normal pension age) or beyond is not available to the majority of personnel. The EDP is a benefit which is entirely separate to any pension you may be entitled to and, in the Public Sector, is unique to the Armed Forces.
How do I know if I’m eligible?
To be eligible for an EDP, you will have to reach age 40 or over (but before the age of 60) and serve as a Regular for at least 20 years. This is known as the 20/40 EDP point, since both the 20 and 40 year marks have to be passed. If you have a break in Service of more than 5 years, on returning to the Armed Forces you will need to serve for another 20 years or more in order to qualify for an EDP.
What will I receive and when?
If you leave the Regular Armed Forces on or after the 20/40 EDP point but before age 60 (normal pension age), you will receive a tax-free lump sum, equal to 2.25 times your annual deferred pension. You will also receive a taxable monthly income, which is worth 34% of the value of your annual deferred pension. For each year served beyond the 20/40 EDP point, the value of the EDP will be increased by 0.85% of your deferred pension.
Resettlement Grant
Resettlement Grants assist those leaving the regular armed forces to resettle into civilian life after completing a substantial period of service. A Resettlement Grant is not a pension. It is a tax-free lump sum paid to regular service personnel, who, at the time they leave the services, are not eligible for Early Departure Payment benefits, an Immediate Pension or ill health award (or any other immediate pension benefits) and they meet Resettlement Grant qualification criteria, which are:
– AFPS 2015 and AFPS 2005: all personnel need to have 12 years’ relevant service (from date of entry)
– AFPS 1975: other ranks to have 12 relevant years of reckonable service from age 18.
The value of the Resettlement Grant is:
– AFPS 2005 and AFPS 2015: £12,692
– AFPS 1975 (OR): £12,691
Ill-Health Benefits AFPS15 (2015 scheme)
If you leave the Armed Forces early due to ill-health or injury, then you may be entitled to ill-health benefits. Early retirement due to ill-health means you may be able to take your pension benefits early to help support you financially. The type of benefits you will receive are dependent upon your individual circumstance and the degree of disability. You will only be entitled to receive an ill-health award if you have completed at least 2 years of qualifying service.
What ill-health benefits am I entitled to?
There are three levels of ill-health award that can be made if you are medically discharged under AFPS15, depending on the severity of your medical condition.
– Tier 1: A Tier 1 award is made if you are deemed to be unfit for Service in the Armed Forces because of physical or mental impairment, but your ability to obtain gainful civilian employment is not deemed to be significantly impaired.
– Tier 2: A Tier 2 award is made if you are deemed to have suffered a breakdown in health, as a result of which, your capacity for gainful employment is significantly impaired and is expected to remain so until you reach age 60 (normal pension age).
– Tier 3: A Tier 3 award is made for the most serious conditions and is granted if you are deemed to have suffered a permanent breakdown in health involving incapacity for any gainful full-time employment.
Calculation of ill-health benefits Tier 1
What: Under a Tier 1 discharge, you are awarded a tax-free lump sum. However, if you have passed the point at which you become eligible for an Early Departure Payment (EDP), you will receive an EDP lump sum and monthly income payments instead. To qualify for a EDP you have to serve for 20 years or more and be age 40 or over (20/40 EDP Point).
You will not be able to receive both an EDP and a Tier 1 lump sum. You will also be awarded a deferred pension, which will come into payment at State Pension Age.
How: The Tier 1 award will be calculated as 1/8th of your final pensionable earnings (the highest earning 365 consecutive days in the last 3 years), multiplied by the number of years of Service in AFPS15. If the calculation produces an award which would be greater than 2 years of final pensionable earnings, the award is capped at 2 years. If the calculation produces an award that would be less than 6 months of final pensionable earnings, the award is rounded up to equal 6 months’ pay.
SCOPE
To be in-scope you must have been in pensionable service in a Public Sector Pension Scheme, including the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS) on or before 31 March 2012 and on or after 1 April 2015 without a break in service of more than five years.
ROLLBACK
Rollback means returning those in-scope members, who were moved to AFPS15 on 1 April 2015 (i.e., not protected), back to their relevant legacy pension scheme(s) for service in the remedy period. This part of 2015 Pension Remedy places all in-scope members in the same position. Where a member has multiple periods of service the relevant legacy will be the last scheme that would have been open and available to them had the discrimination not occurred.
CHOICE
All in-scope personnel will have a 2015 Pension Remedy election so they can choose to receive either legacy scheme benefits or AFPS 15 benefits for pensionable service in the remedy period.