[jojo22]

Veterans’ benefits docked in stealth raid on military pensions
Former serviceman ordered to repay thousands of pounds after DWP classes Armed Forces pensions as ‘unearned income’

Former serviceman ordered to repay thousands of pounds after DWP classes Armed Forces pensions as ‘unearned income’

Ministers have been accused of launching a “stealth clawback” of military pensions, leaving veterans who claim benefits thousands of pounds worse off.

Officials at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have informed veterans that their military pension is considered “unearned income” and will therefore result in a pound-for-pound reduction in benefits.

In some cases this has resulted in veterans being ordered to repay tens of thousands of pounds, as well as having their monthly benefit payments reduced.

thoughts

EDIT new non paywall link https://www.aol.com/articles/veterans-benefits-docked-military-pensions-102443000.html

 

• This topic was modified 1 week, 6 days ago by jojo22.

Topic

[kezo]

There was a MOD pension error reported end of July, wonder if anything to do with that?

 

I can’t read the Telegraph mate (no account) but, also published in Yahoo news…

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/veterans-benefits-docked-military-pensions-102443527.html

[Callmejohn]

jojo22 wrote:

Veterans’ benefits docked in stealth raid on military pensions Former serviceman ordered to repay thousands of pounds after DWP classes Armed Forces pensions as ‘unearned income’ Former serviceman ordered to repay thousands of pounds after DWP classes Armed Forces pensions as ‘unearned income’ Ministers have been accused of launching a “stealth clawback” of military pensions, leaving veterans who claim benefits thousands of pounds worse off. Officials at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have informed veterans that their military pension is considered “unearned income” and will therefore result in a pound-for-pound reduction in benefits. In some cases this has resulted in veterans being ordered to repay tens of thousands of pounds, as well as having their monthly benefit payments reduced. thoughts https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/08/02/veterans-military-pensions-benefits-docked-dwp-income/

It is worth checking, if you are being ordered to pay it back or requested to repay it back.

I haven’t worked these for over 20 years and even then I was no expert, as my services were utilized in other directions, but at that time, if the claimant supplied us with the wrong information, then we could demand back any overpayment.

However, if the claimant supplied us fully with the correct information and we made an error which led to an overpayment, then we could not demand a repayment, but we could request repayment of the overpayment, which to some claimants, would seem like a demand for return of the overpayment.

• This reply was modified 1 week, 6 days ago by Callmejohn.
• This reply was modified 1 week, 5 days ago by Callmejohn.

[jojo22]

kezo wrote:

There was a MOD pension error reported end of July, wonder if anything to do with that? I can’t read the Telegraph mate (no account) but, also published in Yahoo news… https://uk.news.yahoo.com/veterans-benefits-docked-military-pensions-102443527.html

Didnt paywall me but does now

Strange

New deleted and replaced with a open link

In recent months, parliamentary questions have been asked by MPs about Armed Forces pensions being treated as unearned income for calculating Universal Credit.

There are 68,000 people in Britain who claim Universal Credit and have previously served in the Army, according to official figures. Of these, a proportion will be at or nearing retirement age, which means that they are likely to be affected by the DWP’s enforcement action.

https://www.aol.com/articles/veterans-benefits-docked-military-pensions-102443000.html

 

 

 

[BigDave]

This really is a bit of a non-story (and I speak as an injured veteran).

It has always been the case that under the Armed Forces Pension Schemes (AFPS) 1975 and 2005 that those severely injured on duty and medically discharged are awarded a ‘Service Attributable Pension’ (SAP) and have it disregarded for most means tested benefits including Universal Credit. Likewise it is non-taxable.

Those whose AFPS 1975 and 2005 pension is awarded as a ‘Service Invaliding Pension’ (SIP) do not receive such a disregard for means tested benefits like UC and a SIP is taxable.  (Although there are a few ‘Attributable SIP’ cases where a SIP can be disregarded and non-taxable but these are very few and far between).

Neither of these (SAP/SIP) are part of the War Pension Scheme (WPS) which again are paid tax free and disregarded under Universal Credit (barring a couple of extra supplements which directly overlap with DWP benefits). An injured veteran can be paid a War Pension with an Attributable AFPS Pension, with an Invaliding AFPS Pension or as a stand-alone.

Likewise under the newer (post April 2005) Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) where Service Attributable Benefits, as well as AFCS Guaranteed Income Payments (GIP) and Armed Forces Independence Payments (AFIP) are also disregarded under Universal Credit. However an AFPS 2005 or AFPS 2015 pension is not disregarded unless classed as ‘Attributable’.

Simple eh? Not.

The system is so complex that some veterans were wrongly classed by the DWP as having an ‘Attributable’ AFPS pension (with UC disregarded) when they had an ‘Invaliding’ AFPS pension (where UC is not disregarded) and vice versa. Hence some where found to have been overpaid UC and some were found to be eligible for UC!

Those who lose UC because their AFPS Pension is an ‘Invaliding’ one usually call ‘foul’ as  seems has occurred in the Telegraph/AOL article, but under the current law it is correct (and not discriminatory nor against the Armed Forces Covenant)! It is as the scheme was designed way back in 1975.

Many veterans themselves do not know if their AFPS pension is paid as ‘Attributable’  or ‘Invaliding’ or neither. They thus get confused when claiming means tested benefits such as UC. Or try to claim because ‘their mate’ gets it. However it all rests on the reason the individual AFPS pension was awarded.

It really is a specialist area and veterans really need individual assistance from an agency that knows the full intricacies of the system, for example the Veterans Welfare Service, Royal British Legion Money Team, SSAFA, BLESMA, RAFBF, Gulf War Veterans Association or Forces Pension Society etc.

[Author]

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