As Armed Forces Pension Awareness Week begins, we’re reflecting on the Parliamentary event the Society hosted last week to improve awareness and understanding of the Armed Forces pension’s role in sustaining UK Defence capability, its direct link to the Armed Forces Covenant and the urgent need to address several issues AFPS members are facing right now. These include delays in delivering the AFPS Remedy; the recovery of pension overpayments; and the ongoing issue of unclaimed pension benefits, which can leave individuals and families missing out on entitlements that are rightfully theirs.
The event was sponsored by former military MPs: Paul Foster (a former Royal Engineer) and David Reed (a former Royal Marine)- both spoke passionately about the importance of pension awareness in the serving military – and the link to retention – for service leavers as they embark on their second careers, and veterans. This message was reinforced by our Chief Executive who also highlighted the urgent need to improve AFPS administration or risk irrevocably losing the trust and confidence of those who serve and have served.
Minister for Veterans and People, Calvin Bailey MBE MP (a former RAF pilot) addressed the group acknowledging the challenges faced and highlighting the work being done to address them.
He committed to engage directly with those organisations responsible for the overpayment errors which have led to over a thousand veterans being held liable to repay the public monies they now owe because of the administrators’ errors.
We will continue to press for an immediate pause to the overpayment recovery exercise and for those organisations responsible for the errors to be held accountable and liable for repaying the monies owed to the public purse.
We are grateful to those who attended and contributed to the discussion.
Throughout Armed Forces Pension Week, we’ll be sharing information and guidance to help serving personnel, service leavers, veterans and their families better understand their pension benefits, the options available to them and the steps they can take to ensure no entitlement goes unclaimed.
Main Image: Minister for Veterans and People, Calvin Bailey MBE MP; FPS Chief Executive Neil Marshall OBE with event sponsors Paul Foster MP and David Reed MP; Armed Forces Commissioner Polly Miller-Perkins CBE & Society President Sir Stephen Hillier
