Benefit Entitlements: War Pension and Armed Forces Compensation

Caroline Voaden Excerpts

Wednesday 14th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Josh Babarinde]

I agree with the Chair of the Defence Committee, who I know has worked on this issue for some time. I think his suggestion needs to be done sooner than the next armed forces compensation scheme review. We also need to remember that the war pensions scheme, from before that system—before 2003—needs to be looked at. I hope the Minister will be able to give us some commitments to that effect later, and I will spell them out specifically.

[Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Josh Babarinde]

Yes, and then I will make some progress.

[Caroline Voaden]

I have heard from several veterans in my constituency who have served and left the forces with a modest occupational pension but now need universal credit to make ends meet. Because their pension is counted as income, they receive less support, and for some the reduction is substantial. Does my hon. Friend agree that the current treatment is not consistent with the armed forces covenant and that something needs to change?

[Josh Babarinde]

I agree. I will talk later about the armed forces covenant and the new legal duties that will be on the Department for Work and Pensions and other Departments from the new year.

Let me animate what my hon. Friend describes with the example of what happened to Pauline. Her pension credit fell from £77 a week to just £11 a week on being awarded military compensation. Let me put that very plainly, just as others have done: she was financially punished for being injured in the service of her country. That was not an abstract loss. The material impact was that Pauline was, in the end, forced to leave her home because she could no longer afford to keep up with the living costs. That is what this policy and the status quo mean for people like Pauline.

I made Pauline a promise that I would fight this injustice on her behalf. I used my first ever question in Prime Minister’s questions to raise the case, and I met the Pensions Minister to press it further. It is with huge sadness that I say that Pauline died on 30 November last year, without seeing the justice that she was so determined to secure. At her funeral, I renewed the promise that I made to Pauline to her sons, Les and Simon Haffenden, and to everyone who loved her, and I am here tonight in an endeavour to keep it. That is why, earlier today, I tabled the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and War Pension Scheme (Report) Bill—that is a bit of a mouthful, so Pauline’s law will do. However, this is not just Pauline’s story. According to the Royal British Legion, some 144,000 veterans and their families receive compensation for injury, illness or bereavement caused by their service. Over half of our veterans are over 65.