Claiming a War Pension

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Chapter 2

Claiming a War Pension

THE SCOPE OF THE WAR PENSIONS SCHEME
2.1 The War Pensions Scheme covers all regular and reserve¹ex-service personnel, including the Ulster Defence Regiment²(now the Royal Irish Regiment), the Home Guard³and nursing and auxiliary services. There are similar schemes covering other personnel including civil defence volunteers, civilians disabled due to enemy action in the Second World War, merchant seamen and members of the naval auxiliary services or coastguard, and members of the Polish Forces under British command or in the Polish Resettlement Forces.

2.2 The scheme applies to disablement or death which is due to service before 6 April 2005.⁴Irrespective of the date when a claimant’s service in the armed forces comes to an end, claims in respect of any injury prior to that date must be made under the War Pensions Scheme. Unlike the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, awards under the War Pensions Scheme cannot be made for any period prior to the termination of service.⁵Claims for disablement or death due to service on or after 6 April 2005 must be made under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme. Except for a claim for a funeral payment,⁶there is no time limit for making a claim under the War Pensions Scheme, although claims made before the end of the period of 7 years from the termination of service are subject to a burden and standard of proof which is more favourable to the claimant.⁷

¹The term ‘member of the Reserve or Auxiliary Forces’ is defined in SPO 2006, Sch 6, para 38.

²By Orders made under the Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969.

³In relation to injury or death due to service after 27 April 1952, by Orders made under Home

Guard Act 1951, s 1(4).

⁴SPO 2006, arts 5(1) and 22(1).

⁵SPO 2006, art 5(2).

⁶See para 10.20.

⁷See paras 3.1–3.4 and Chapters 4 and 5.

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8 War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation – Law and Practice

However, a delay in claiming may result in a loss of benefit due to the limits on backdating awards (see Chapter 7).

MAKING A SERVICE PENSIONS ORDER CLAIM
2.3 Prior to 1997, a claim for war pension did not have to be in any particular form. However, amendments to the Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions Order 1983⁸(SPO 1983) introduced in that year⁹made it a requirement for claims for war pension benefits to be in a form prescribed by the Secretary of State. Article 34(1) of the SPO 2006 now provides that:

(1) ... it shall be a condition precedent to the making of any award of any pension, allowance, supplement or lump sum payment mentioned in paragraph (2) (including any such award which follows an earlier award and an award which is the restoration of an award referred to in article 33^[10]) that the person making the claim shall have—

(a) completed and signed a form approved by the Secretary of State for the purpose of claiming an award payable under this Order; and

(b) delivered that form either to an appropriate office^[11] of the Secretary

of State or to an office of an authorised agent.^[12]

Under article 34(2A) of the SPO 2006, a claim under article 8(6) for constant attendance allowance for a claimant who is terminally ill¹³can be made on the claimant’s behalf without the claimant’s knowledge or authority. Claims under article 29¹⁴for pensions for orphans, or under article 31¹⁵for unemployability supplement payable in respect of children who are not children of the claimant,

⁸SI 1983/883.

⁹By Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions Amendment
(No. 3) Order 1996 (SI 1996/2882), art 3.

¹⁰See para 10.17. This article and art 34 were amended by the Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions (Amendment) Order 2018 (SI 2018/176) to make it clear that a claim is required for the restoration of pensions forfeited under art 33, reversing the effect of the decision of Judge Levenson in HD v Secretary of State for Defence (WP) [2017] UKUT 376 (AAC), [2017] 4 WLR 182.

¹¹The address to which claims should be sent is DBS Veterans UK, Ministry of Defence, Norcross,
Thornton Cleveleys, Lancashire FY5 3WP.

¹²Defined in SPO 2006, Sch 6, para 22 as including UK consular officials in the territory or place where the claimant is resident at the time the claim is made (the word ‘whether’ in that paragraph seems to be a misprint for ‘where’).

¹³See para 9.1.

¹⁴See para 10.14.

¹⁵See para 9.10.

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must be made by the child’s guardian, or other person having parental responsibility for the child within the meaning of the Children Act 1989.¹⁶

2.4 Claims for war pension¹⁷should be made on Form AFCSWPS001. This form, together with claim forms for funeral expenses, allowance for lowered standard of occupation, war pensioners’ mobility supplement, constant attendance allowance, and unemployability supplement can be downloaded from the DBS Veterans UK website,¹⁸but there is no provision for making claims electronically. Claim forms for other benefits can be obtained from DBS Veterans UK. There is also a downloadable ‘Claim for War Pension (further condition)’ form for making a claim in respect of a condition in addition to one which has previously been accepted as attributable to or aggravated by service.¹⁹

When a claim is not required
2.5 A claim is not required in the following cases (see Chapters 9 and 10 for a description of the benefits referred to):

(i) if a member of the armed services has been medically discharged;²⁰

(ii) for a claim for comforts allowance under article 14(1)(a)(ii) of the SPO 2006, or age allowance under article 16, if the claimant is in receipt of war disablement pension (i.e. retired pay or a disablement pension under article 6);²¹

(iii) for a claim for elderly persons allowance under article 26 of the SPO 2006 if the claimant is in receipt of a pension for surviving spouses, or surviving civil partners under article 23, or a pension for dependants who lived as spouses or as civil partners of the...