Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 31092 on Armed Forces: Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of that proposal on service members at pension age.

This is a Government of service and I am leading work across Government and with civil society to look at the best ways to ensure all Veterans get access to the support and opportunities they need and deserve. This year, we will set out our plans for Veterans in our updated Veterans’ Strategy. This Government will always stand up for those who have served our country. That said, the rules governing Armed Forces’ pensions are designed to be fair to all military personnel and thus the awarding of periodic payments is not under consideration by this Department.

The Social Security Act 1973 brought about changes by requiring all occupational pension schemes to preserve pension rights for those who left service after 6 April 1975 having completed at least five years qualifying service and having attained the age of 26. It is a fact that the legacy issues associated with the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 are replicated in other public sector schemes in existence prior to the Social Security Act 1973.

Where legacy issues are common across public sector schemes, any provisions or change implemented for the Armed Forces would certainly result in pressure from others for similar treatment. To concede retrospection or make provisions for one group would place great pressure on other public service schemes and this would have huge financial implications. This would also impact any future meaningful improvements to pension schemes for current employees and make them unaffordable.