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Pensions

About the
Schemes

Understand the different pension schemes
and find out what type of pension you have.

Which type of pension do I have?

People who left the Forces before 6th April 2005 are part of the AFPS 75 scheme – originally the Armed Forces Pension Scheme, it was renamed AFPS 75 after the AFPS 05 was introduced.

After 6th April 2005 new Regulars and Reservists joining Full Time Reserve Service joined the AFPS 05 scheme. All Regular Servicemen and women who joined active service before 6th April 2005 and were still serving by 6th April 2006 could choose to remain on AFPS 75 or transfer to AFPS 05.

On 6th April 2015 the Armed Forces introduced their CARE scheme (AFPS 15) for every form of paid service – Regular or Reserve. Servicemen and women who were members of AFPS 75 or AFPS 05 and under a certain age (45 for Regulars and 50 for Reservists) on 1st April 2012 had to move across to the new scheme. All pension earned up to 31st March 2015 in a legacy scheme became an accrued pension right that can’t be taken away.

The pension schemes

If you’re currently serving in the Armed Forces, there are four pension schemes you could have rights to:

AFPS 75 (Regulars only – entry closed on 06/04/2005)

AFPS 05 (Regulars only – entry closed on 06/04/2015)

RFPS 05 (Full Time Reservists only – entry closed on 06/04/2015)

AFPS 15 (All Regulars and All Reservists)

Full Time Reservists also had a separate pension scheme (FTRS 97) open to them between April 1997 and April 2006. This scheme was based on the AFPS 75 principles.

The current AFPS 15 pension scheme is a career average revalued earnings (CARE) scheme. This is a type of defined benefit pension scheme offered by employers.

The benefits at retirement are based on your earnings and length of membership of the scheme.

All other schemes are based on the final salary concept (AFPS 05 and RFPS 05) or a modified ‘representative salary’ version (AFPS 75).

AFPS 75

Regulars only – entry closed on 06/04/2005

A minimum of two years’ service is needed in the scheme in order to be entitled to any pension. Commissioned Officers can leave with immediate pension award entitlements after 16 years of service. Non-commissioned individuals can leave with immediate pension award entitlements after 22 years of service.

AFPS 05

Regulars only – entry closed on 06/04/2015

A minimum of two years’ service is needed in the scheme in order to be entitled to any pension. The same rules apply to all Regular serving personnel.

No immediate pension payable to leavers under the age of 55. There is an early departure payment income stream and lump sum payable to leavers aged between 40 and 55 if they’ve completed 18 years’ service.

RFPS 05

Full Time Reservists only – entry closed on 06/04/2015

Only one days’ service is needed to be entitled to this pension. The same rules apply to all Full Time Reserve serving personnel. No immediate pension is payable to leavers under the age of 60. There are no early departure payment awards. All short periods of service are payable at the age of 60 if personnel leave full time Reserve service at that age.

AFPS 15

All Regulars and All Reservists

A minimum of two years’ service are needed in the scheme in order to be entitled to any pension. The same rules apply for all Regular and Reserve personnel.

No immediate pension is payable to leavers under the age of 60. There is an early departure payment income stream and lump sum payable to Regular leavers only, aged between 40 and 60 if they’ve completed 20 years’ service.

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