Did you know that there are more than 600,00 military veterans in the UK who aren't entitled to an MOD pension?

[Saltire]

I found this out yesterday and think it's shocking. For example, a soldier who served 8 years and left in March 1975 gets no pension whatsoever, but a soldier who served 5 years and left in May 1975 gets a pension.
This is wrong surely? Those who didn't do 22 years and left before 6th April 1975 get nothing at all, despite serving Queena nd country. I copied this from the Armed Forces Pension group website

The Armed Forces Pension Group (AFPG) has long sought justice regarding pension rights for service personnel who did not complete 22 years (non-commissioned) and who left the service before 6th April 1975. Personnel with less than 22 years service who left before 6th April 1975 receive no pensions whereas, broadly speaking, those who left after this date did so. There is, therefore, a serious issue of equality here. Furthermore, on leaving the service, service personnel could not transfer their pension records to other schemes, including those in the public service, and were thus disadvantaged because of their military service.

That is awful, but I'm not surprised.
My Dad fought all through the 2nd world war ,after serving in the TA for 4yrs prior to that . He got nothing either. you only have to look at the Ghurka situation to see that there are some diabolical regulations.

The title should read 600,000 veterans, missed out a 0

Yes I know my dad is one of them he's missed it by a couple of months!

My OH served his 3 years including a v.long stint in Gulf War 1. I think he is entitled to £12 a week when he retires? Or maybe I am when he dies?

ah, but they did get a leaving gratuity. those who joined when the pension rules changed who did not serve their full 22 did not get a gratuity on exit. (me, lol)

no idea how much it was, but i remember the furore that we didn't get a gratuity any more, just a miniscule pension in a hundred years or so...

reservists now get the option to sign up for second state pension during their periods of call out. ex reg can top up their service pensions.

or was that the change after the change?

i don't know, but more people were annoyed about not getting a gratuity, and no-one wanted a pension lol.

I was chatting to SIL and her friend got mahoosive gratuity when he left (just as my OH was joining). He bought a house in Carribean and has lived on proceeds ever since.

Good luck to him.

OH got bugger all.

Just asked my dad what he got and he says diddly squat!!

the whole pensions thing is a total nightmare tbh. nothing surprises me.

madwoman - I'm not sure, but I do know my stedad who did 8 years and left just before the 1975 change date gets bugger all, yet his fellow soldeir who also did 8 years and left jsut after gets a pension. How can that be fair?
I know when DH leaves he will get his gratuity and his pension, but he will ahve done far more than 22 years by then. I jsut think that nayone who is prpared to put their life on the line for the Governemtn of this country should get some pension back ofr doing so, regardless of how long they served or when they elft

you're quite right, of course. mostly my point was to clarify the gratuity thing, as i know both have long been connected as a recompense for service. certainly there is always a huge furore when one or the other gets changed or removed, particularly for those who do not do 22. so did those leaving before 1975 not get any form of exit payment either? (don't think it was called a gratuity then, that was probably later)

i don't really know what happened in the interim between demob after the war (with your free suit etc lol) and the mid 70's, but interested. of course it isn't fair, and i hadn't meant to denigrate his situation in any way, i just remember a lot of people who had signed up in the eighties being mightily dischuffed that the money they were expecting was not going to materialise, with threats of dismissal if they did not sign up to the new t&cs...

on a slightly different note - if ghurkas who left before 1975 are now entitled to a service pension(?), does joanna lumley know that other servicemen actually aren't?

lol maybe my dad needs to give Joanna a quick call - I'll let him know

madwoman yeah it suprised me a little --made- me gape like a fool too.

OH got feck all and even if I bump him off I can only look forward to a couple of quid.

But the British Legion have been wonderful to us - bless em!

chegirl - and the British legion are losing out on a lot of donations due to the help for Heroes fund. British legion are great, DH and I are members of the branch in Scotland in my hometown.

saltire OH needed adaptations to house (downstairs bathroom)the council gave us a grant (took 2 years) but we couldnt go ahead because the works would have left us without a kitchen. British Legion stepped in and gave us a grant for the difference. It took them about two weeks!

I am a big fan

they tried quite hard to bump dh off too - but because they didn't quite manage it even pax wouldn't pay out... (apparently skull fracture and brain injury isn't on their list of recognisable injuries - if he'd broken his ankle playing rugby rather than got blown up at work there would have been no problem...) these days of course he is sickeningly robust, so it's not an issue, but it does make you wonder at some of these decisions... administrators come from a whole other solar system lol.

so sad when people have to resort to charities etc as the clunky system can't cope.

My dad missed his by a couple of months, and was exposed to loads of asbestos with no protection, but thats another story!