Can anyone tell me if my child is eligible to make a claim on his late fathers army pension, we lived together but were not married at time of his death. He served 8 years in the army.

Hello there. I'm very sorry to hear about your partner.

Are you claiming a services pension? And can you tell us what age your son is please?

HB

Sorry, another question. Are you in contact with the pension scheme people?

HB

I found this online and there seem to be a few pension schemes. Do you know which one your partner was in please?

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pensions-and-compensation-for-veterans

HB

Hi

Sorry about your Partner, a few more question if you don't mind

When did they join the Forces?

When Did the Leave the Forces?

I think the difficulty you may have is that you were only living together and not married at the time.

We really need the information so that we know which forces pensions scheme they came under at the time.

more information about the age of the child and whether you and the child were dependants needed.

in the 60s early 70s many of us served longer than 8 ??????? it was 6 years 9 years 12 years 18 years or 22 years, where does the 8 years come in????? might be they can do what they like these days??? Oh! the main point was if that far back then no pension as only if you served 18 or 22 years hence us who did 12 get nothing

Regrettably nobody is immortal – we are all going to die at some point – for the majority, our deaths will occur long after we have left the Armed Forces and deep into our retirement from paid employment

What benefits do the Armed Forces Pension Schemes offer in the form of pension payable to the dependants we leave behind, where death has occurred after exiting the Services? Lieutenant Commander David Marsh from the Forces Pension Society responds...

Dependant’s pensions is such a large subject, with considerably different variables associated within each of the two Armed Forces Pension Schemes (AFPS75 and AFPS05), that space prevents me from covering both schemes here, so in this edition I will focus on the AFPS75 scheme and deal with the AFPS05 scheme next month.

Let’s begin by ascertaining who is eligible for a dependant’s pension following your death, and who is not. Once you have left the Armed Forces you must be in a marriage or civil partnership for your dependant to be entitled to receive any form of dependant’s pension; living with somebody as your partner – regardless of whether it is somebody of the same or opposite sex, or how long the partnership has been in existence – does not count.

It does not matter whether the marriage, or civil partnership, has taken place before or after leaving the Services, but in cases where a marriage took place after leaving; only the portion of service from 6th April 1978 counts towards a dependant’s pension. Children are also eligible for a child’s pension in certain circumstances too, which I’ll cover in more detail below.

On the date of your death your spouse or civil partner will (providing you left the Services on or after 31st March 1973) receive an income known as a “short term family pension”. (Retirement prior to this date does not attract this benefit.) A short term family pension is paid at an amount identical to what you were receiving on your date of death for the first 91 days following the day you died or, if you should leave 'eligible children', for the first 182 days following your death. In other words, there is no change to the family income stream in Forces Pension Scheme terms for that initial period of time.

Now, what is an 'eligible child'? An eligible child is a natural child or any child who is financially dependent upon the scheme member who is:

a. Under age 17 – quite straightforward.

. Under age 23 and still in full time education or vocational training. This includes university, providing there is no more than a single gap year between the completion of ‘A’ Levels and the start of the university degree. If a child’s pension is in payment before the commencement of a gap year it will cease to be paid throughout the gap year but reinstated at the start of the university degree, providing those intentions were made clear at the end of the child’s ‘A’ Levels.

c. Is unable to undertake gainful employment due to mental or physical disability suffered before the age of 23. In such cases it does not matter what age the child is on your date of death, they will receive a child’s pension until the day they die.

found the above written in response to a peep, cannot remember where originally.

Ktker, I don't think we can advise further without input from you. We need to know or figure out which scheme your partner was in.

HB