(Applicable to those who have paid the appropriate subscription and been accepted as members of the society)
Your attention is particularly drawn to the provisions of paragraph 13 (Our liability to you)
1. Who we are
1.1 The Forces Pension Society is a UK registered not for profit company, company number 00418311. Its registered office is at 68 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1RL. It is governed by its Articles of Association.
1.2 The Society seeks to guard the pension interests of the whole Armed Forces community, acting as watchdog to promote fair play and consistency on the part of the MOD and the Government, as well as campaigning to right unfairness when necessary. The Society also provides an enquiry service to its members, explaining the intricacies of the various Armed Forces pension schemes to its membership, enabling them, as far as is possible, to make informed decisions about their future.
2. Membership Rules
2.1 These rules form the basis of the agreement through which the Forces Pension Society, (the “Society”, “FPS”, “we” or “us”) will deliver a service to you as a member (“you”). On becoming a member you are automatically agreeing to these terms and conditions and our Articles of Association. The terms of business for use of our website also apply to your membership.
2.2 All individual members of the Armed Forces, serving or retired, and their spouses, partners, parents, children, stepchildren aged eighteen or over are eligible for membership of the Society. A member’s current spouse or partner is also automatically eligible to become a member without additional fee, subject only to registration. All members must be registered with us individually and must pay a membership subscription in accordance with our current published fee structure.
3. What you are entitled to as a member of FPS
3.1 As a FPS member you will receive a wide range of benefits including:
3.1.1 Access to individual consultations on Armed Forces pension matters with our Pension Enquiry Service.
3.1.2 Copies of Pennant magazine on issue (currently half-yearly) and the Society e-newsletter on issue (currently two per year);
3.1.3 Full access to the FPS website and our members’ area within the website;
3.1.4 The opportunity to attend and vote at our Annual General Meeting and attend other meetings when offered; and
3.1.5 The ability to take advantage of the range of through-life services and products covering Health, Travel, Motoring, Legal and Financial and Personal offered by FPS affiliates. Many of these services offer exclusive discounted prices and all are selected for their relevance to our Members.
3.2 We reserve the right to change the benefits that apply to FPS membership at any time and without prior notice.
4. Subscription information and fees
4.1 Current Membership fees are displayed on the application section of the website will prevail at all times and on our application form for membership.
4.2 Payment by direct debit is the simplest way to pay your subscription. If you have an annual direct debit agreement then payment is automatic through your bank or building society without prior notice, if there are no changes to the direct debit amount, due date or frequency. If you are just setting up your first direct debit, then your first annual payment will be taken from your account on the first working day of the month after it is returned to us, providing that it is returned four working days before the month end.
4.3 We reserve the right to increase the price of the membership subscription on an annual basis. Membership fees may also be paid by cheque, credit/debit card.
4.4 Widows/ widowers/ surviving civil/ eligible partners in receipt of a dependant’s pension from the deceased service person’s Armed Forces Pension Scheme qualify for the reduced subscription rate. The subscription fee will remain at the full rate until we are notified of the service person’s death and the record transferred to the surviving spouse/ civil/ eligible partner.
5. About your membership contract
5.1 When you click to submit your application online, or you post or email us with details of your application, you are making an offer to subscribe to the FPS which, when accepted by us, result in a contract between the two parties.
5.2 You may not transfer any of your rights and obligations under these terms and conditions to another person.
5.3 For on-line applications or other applications where you provide an email address, members will either have sight of a confirmation page, or an email will be sent acknowledging that your application has been received and is being processed. This does not yet mean that you are a member. This happens on the date we issue your membership number.
5.4 For applications made in writing and posted or delivered to us, and when you do not provide us with an email address you become a member when we issue your membership number.
5.5 We reserve the right not to fulfil, or to cancel your application if we are unable to obtain payment authorisation from the issuer of your card or from your bank in the case of direct debit payments. If you are accepted into membership, but it subsequently turns out that any or all of the information provided by you was misleading or false, we reserve the right to revoke the membership with immediate effect, without the right of appeal.
5.6 In the event of non-compliance with these Rules including any actions taken by you which we consider adversely affects or could adversely affect the reputation of FPS we reserve the right to take any action which we consider appropriate which may include termination of your membership.
6. Renewals and cancellation
6.1 Membership fee increases will be publicised in the Autumn (November) edition of Pennant to take effect from the following 1st January, and members will be notified via email and/ or in any other medium which we consider appropriate.
6.2 If you pay your membership fees by cheque or by debit or credit card, you will receive a renewal notice from us in advance of the anniversary of your application date, informing you of your renewal options. If you pay your fees by direct debit, you will not receive any such email from us and your membership will automatically renew and any payment arrangements that have been made by Direct Debit will automatically continue, unless you notify your bank/building society that you wish to cancel them.
6.3 If you wish to cancel your membership you may do so by notifying us at any time although the Society does not refund part-year subscriptions for those who cancel before their annual subscription for the year in question has expired.
6.4 At the point of renewal of your membership, your renewal payment is confirmation of the continued acceptance of this contract.
7. Magazine delivery
7.1 If you opt to receive paper versions of Pennant magazine, we will deliver to the address you provide to us. It is your responsibility to notify us if your address changes. You agree that we will not be responsible for failure to deliver Pennant magazine if you have supplied us with an incorrect address or have failed to notify us of an address change.
7.2 If you opt to receive digital versions of Pennant magazine these will be delivered to the email address you provide to us. It is your responsibility to notify us if your email address changes.
7.3 Our newsletter is issued in digital format only and will be delivered to the email address you provide to us. It is your responsibility to notify us if your email address changes.
7.4 Our liability to you in the event of magazines being lost in dispatch or not being delivered for any other reason shall, at our discretion, be limited to replacement of the missing issues.
7.5 Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of Pennant Magazine, and any newsletters we issue. However, neither we nor the authors can accept liability for errors and omissions within the magazines.
7.6 These Terms and Conditions do not and shall not affect your statutory rights as a consumer.
8. Pension Enquiry Services
8.1 We can provide technical explanations on all aspects of your Armed Forces pension and the implications of your potential decisions concerning that pension and eligibility for it. We aim to arm you with the appropriate facts to enable you to make informed decisions about your pension. We will not make those decisions for you.
8.2 We are not a pension provider nor are we lawyers or financial advisers. As such we cannot give you investment or financial advice or advise you on your legal rights or on capital investments or on other pension provisions or schemes apart from the guidance we can give you on the terms of Armed Forces Pension schemes as set out in paragraph 8.1. We cannot assist you in the event that you require legal representation but we may, at our sole discretion consider our involvement in the event of a group action against the MOD or government.
8.3 As soon as you become a member of the Society, you are eligible to consult any of our Forces Pensions Consultants. The normal method is by email as this creates a clear audit trail, and is best suited to most questions. However it is also possible to consult by telephone or by appointment, face to face. We normally deal with each matter in order of receipt (urgent time-sensitive issues excepted). Our Forces Pensions Consultants are available during normal office hours (9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Thursday and 9.00am to 4.00pm on Friday).
8.4 Pension information provided by the Society is very often time sensitive and may be affected by changes to personal circumstances such as promotion, marriage/divorce or change to terms of service as well as changes to MOD rules and external factors (such as budgets). Subject to paragraph 13.3 the Society therefore accepts no responsibility for the continued appropriateness of any guidance given should any of the salient facts subsequently change.
8.5 Subject always to paragraph 13.3 the Society accepts no responsibility for:
8.5.1 the provision of erroneous or misleading guidance if based on incorrect information provided by the member in question; and
8.5.2 the provision of erroneous or misleading guidance if based on incorrect information published by Veterans UK, the Armed Forces pension administrators, the MOD or any other government source.
9. Third party providers
9.1 We give our members access to discounts/ offers from certain third party providers. Such services will be subject to the provider’s own terms and conditions, and we do not accept any liability for loss or damage suffered as a result of a fault, error or omission in the provision of these services. We reserve the right to change our external providers without prior notice and our decision on services provided is final.
9.2 The FPS may request that third party providers provide a list of members using their services for our records.
10. Privacy Policy and Data Protection
10.1 Our Privacy Policy is available online. Information about members is kept strictly confidential in accordance with the General Data Protection Rules 2018.
10.2 The personal data you supply will be used to process your membership subscription. As a member of FPS your data will be used for the Society’s statistical and analytical purposes and to administer your membership. The Society may also use it to provide you with special offers related to membership. We will not pass your data on to third parties.
10.3 You will receive membership communications and from time to time we will let you know about promotions. If you provide us with your email address, then we may send you information which we think may be of interest, but this will always come from the Society, not from elsewhere, unless you provide explicit written permission.
10.4 If you wish to obtain a copy of your personal data held by us, then please write to the address below. Please note that you may be charged a fee of £10 for this service. You may also be asked to provide proof of your identity and for information that might help to locate the data you are seeking.
10.5 If you believe that any of the information we hold concerning you is incorrect or out of date, please provide us with the accurate information by contacting the Membership Team at memsec@forpen.co.uk.
11. Website
11.1 We will make every effort to ensure that the information on our website is accurate. However, we cannot guarantee this and accept no liability for any information given via this website.
11.2 Even if data encryption is used, the security of information transmitted via the internet cannot be guaranteed. Users who transmit such information to us do so at their own risk and any losses incurred or sustained thereby shall be borne solely and exclusively by the user and in no event by us.
11.3 Please see our website terms and conditions for further information.
12. FPS Brand
The FPS name and logo belong to the Society and are not to be used in any capacity without the prior written permission of the Society.
13. Our liability to you
13.1 Our objective is to provide a high quality, professional service that fully meets your expectations and requirement, subject to the provisions of paragraph 8.
13.2 We undertake to use reasonable care and skill in the performance of our obligations to you. If we fail to comply with these Rules we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is foreseeable. For loss or damage to be foreseeable it must be an obvious consequence of our breach or if it was contemplated by you and us at the time you entered into a contract with us. We are not liable for any loss or damage which is not foreseeable.
13.3 We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
13.4 We only supply services to you as a member for your domestic or private use. We have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business or loss of business opportunity.
13.5 Please download digital content carefully because we cannot be responsible for any damage to your computer system or device which may result. This does not affect your statutory rights as a consumer.
13.6 FPS holds a current Certificate of Professional Liability Insurance to cover any civil liabilities arising from its professional activities. Subject to paragraph 13.3, our liability to you for losses arising out of, or in connection with, any guidanc we give to you (including legal costs you incur in pursuing recovery of the losses, and including interest) shall be limited to the sum of £500,000 in respect of any claim brought by you against FPS.
13.7 Subject to paragraph 13.3, no member of staff of FPS will have any personal liability for guidance given to you or work undertaken for you. You agree not to bring any claim personally against any member of staff of FPS in respect of any loss which you suffer or incur, directly or indirectly, in connection with any guidance we give. This provision is intended to benefit such members of staff, who may enforce this paragraph pursuant to the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
14. Queries comments and complaints
If you have any queries, comments or complaints about our service or your membership you should contact our Head of Membership:
Telephone: 020 7820 9988 (lines are open Mon-Fri 10am-4pm (excluding public holidays).
Email: memsec@forpen.co.uk
Post: Head of Membership
15. General terms
15.1 Variation
We may change these terms and conditions at any time upon giving you 14 days prior written notice. The most recent edition of these terms and conditions will be binding upon you. Members may exit the contract without penalty if they do not accept any proposed variation.
15.2 Governing law and jurisdiction
These terms and conditions are governed by English law.
15.3 Third parties
A person who is not party to these Terms shall not have any rights under or in connection with them under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
15.4 Entire agreement
These terms and conditions override any contrary terms or conditions published by us in relation to any membership subscription between you and us.
15.5 Force majeure
Neither party shall be liable to the other for any delay or non-performance of its obligations by reason of matters beyond its control including, but not limited to, any act of terrorism, war, riot, civil commotion, compliance with any law or government order, fire, flood or storm, strikes, or any other industrial dispute, delay in transit, power failure, postal delay, or any event that cannot be reasonably be planned for or avoided.