Our ongoing campaign to assist Veterans to claim their pension rights is gathering momentum.
This is partly a result of the publication of the latest AFPS Annual Report (July 2023) showing the number of unclaimed deferred pension benefits has grown still further in 2022/3, reaching more than 17,100.
The Society is also pleased to report added momentum provided by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, announcing in its recent Veterans’ Strategy update that:
“The OVA is working with the MOD and the Forces Pension Society to reunite more veterans with unclaimed, deferred pension benefits.”
To re-state the key issues of this growing concern:
- Anyone serving after April 1975 now aged 60 or over could have an Armed Forces pension if they served for two years or more.
- The pension is not paid automatically – Veterans must apply to Veterans UK using AFPS Form 8 or call 0800 085 3600 for information.
- Between June 2020 and May 2022, over 4,000 preserved Armed Forces pensions went unclaimed.
Forces Pension Society CEO, Maj Gen Neil Marshall said:
“These unclaimed pensions, in many cases, represent quite substantial sums of money. And the situation has not improved, with the number of unclaimed pensions rising.
We applaud the engagement of the Office for Veterans’ Affairs and we also urge anyone who may know a Veteran who has not yet claimed a pension to visit the Veterans’ Gateway website without delay.
For our part, the Society will maintain its focus on this issue until we see more of these pensions in the hands of those who earned them.
We encourage you our Members and followers to join our campaign, and share our message. To help you do that we have created this simple chart for ease of sharing.
