Armed forces pension death benefits depend on your scheme: AFPS 75, 05 and 15 pay a lump sum, a survivor's pension, or both to eligible family.

We are sorry if you are reading this after a death. The three schemes can pay a lump sum, a pension for a spouse, civil partner or eligible partner, and pensions for children. Which of these applies turns on the scheme and on whether the member was serving, had left with a deferred pension or was already drawing one. Veterans UK holds the official figures, and an FCA-authorised adviser can discuss what they mean for your own family, free, on a call-back requested in this page's form.

Who to tell, and how a family claims

GOV.UK's guidance for families says to register the death and tell the government, then to deal with banks, utilities and landlords yourself. If the veteran belonged to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme and was not getting Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or War Pension payments, it says "please notify Equiniti of the death". If they were getting either of those, the Ministry of Defence bereavement line is the route (GOV.UK, What to do when a veteran dies, published 12 September 2024).

Equiniti and Veterans UK do different jobs. GOV.UK's page on the death of a scheme member says that if a pension was being paid, the informant first tells Equiniti, the paying agent, "so that the pension will stop", and a dependant asks the Armed Forces Pension Schemes team (freephone 0800 085 3600) for a claim form. If the member died before claiming a pension, the family contacts that same team (GOV.UK, Death of an Armed Forces Pension Scheme member, last updated 30 October 2023). The AFPS 15 booklet adds that the death lump sum is claimed through Veterans UK rather than paid automatically. A member can have built benefits in more than one scheme, and then each part is assessed under its own scheme's rules, so a family may be owed more than one entitlement.

GOV.UK also points families to MoD Veterans Services, which helps bereaved families by arranging access to the right support. To check which scheme someone belonged to, see which armed forces pension you are on.

If the member died in service

The amounts differ sharply between the older scheme and the two newer ones, as the table shows.

SchemeLump sumPension for the surviving partner
AFPS 753 times representative payA short-term pension equal to basic pay, then a long-term pension of one half of an ill-health or immediate pension, whichever is worth more
AFPS 054 times final pensionable earnings62.5% of a Tier 3 enhanced ill-health pension or, if greater, one based on actual service
AFPS 154 times final pensionable earnings62.5% of a Tier 3 enhanced ill-health pension

In AFPS 05 and AFPS 15 the lump sum is "paid regardless of whether you have completed at least 2 years of qualifying service", though a dependant's pension needs those two years. The AFPS 75 short-term pension lasts 91 days for a spouse or civil partner with no children and 182 days where there are eligible children. A member who moved from AFPS 75 to AFPS 15 on 1 April 2015 has no short-term pension, and the lump sum rises to four times final pensionable earnings (Ministry of Defence booklets for each scheme, listed under Sources).

If the member had left or was already drawing a pension

For AFPS 15 and AFPS 05, a member who left with a deferred pension and died before it was paid leaves a survivor's pension of 62.5% of the deferred pension. In AFPS 15 the lump sum is three times the deferred pension; in AFPS 05 it is the member's deferred pension lump sum. How the member's own pension is built up is set out in how much army pension is paid.

Once a pension is being paid, the survivor still receives 62.5% of it. A lump sum is paid only "if you die within 5 years of drawing your pension" under AFPS 15, worth five years of pension less anything already received; AFPS 05 has the same five-year window.

AFPS 75 works differently. For a deferred member, the long-term pension is one half of the pension for service from 31 March 1973 and, for earlier service, one third, with a lump sum of three times the annual pension. For a pensioner, a short-term pension of 91 or 182 days comes first, then the long-term pension, and a lump sum is paid only if the death is within one year of the member's last day of pensionable service. Mixed service records are where the booklets stop being enough, and an FCA-authorised adviser will take you through how the schemes combine if you ask in the form on this page.

Who counts as a spouse, civil partner or eligible partner

In AFPS 05 and AFPS 15 a spouse or civil partner is eligible. A former spouse or civil partner whose marriage or partnership was legally ended is not, but one who was never divorced remains eligible even if they have a new relationship. A survivor more than 12 years younger than the member has their pension reduced, and the pension is paid for life whatever happens later. In all three schemes, where the marriage or civil partnership began within six months before the death, the award "will not be automatic" and Veterans UK looks at the circumstances.

An unmarried partner can qualify in AFPS 05 and AFPS 15 if the member had no surviving spouse or civil partner and there was "a substantial and exclusive relationship" with financial dependence or inter-dependence and no legal bar to marrying. The factsheet is plain that "living together alone should not be assumed to guarantee entitlement". In AFPS 75 an eligible partner can receive a pension only where the death is attributable to service and the member was in service on or after 15 September 2003, and the same relationship and free-to-marry tests are met.

For widowers and civil partners in AFPS 75, the booklet says the member must have been in service on or after 1 October 1987. For a deferred member or pensioner, the date of the marriage can change the service the pension is based on. Where a partner's status is unclear, it can help to hear it explained; an FCA-authorised adviser will do that free on a call-back from the short form on this page.

What children receive, and which children count

In AFPS 05 and AFPS 15 an eligible child is under 18 and was financially dependent on the member; those under 23 in full-time education or vocational training also qualify, as does a child of any age who cannot get paid work because of a physical or mental impairment. The pension runs for as long as the child stays eligible. Normally children share what remains after the partner's 62.5%, which is 37.5%: an only child receives 25%, and with no surviving partner the children share the whole pension, up to 33.3% each in AFPS 15 and 33% in AFPS 05.

AFPS 75 sets a different test: under 17, in full-time secondary education up to 19, under 23 in further or higher education, or any age with an impairment. Its long-term pension is up to one quarter of the member's pension for one child, or half shared between several, with no child above a quarter. Which children count also depends on status: a dependent grandchild can qualify for a serving member, while for deferred members and pensioners it turns on service dates, such as a child born in service or within 9 months of leaving.

Nominations: who receives the lump sum

In AFPS 05 and AFPS 15 a member can nominate who receives the lump sum, but "you cannot nominate someone to receive your pension". With no nomination, the lump sum goes first to anyone entitled to a survivor's pension, then to anyone entitled to a child's pension, then to the personal representatives. Under AFPS 15 a valid nomination takes precedence even where there is a spouse, but only for the lump sum. A marriage or civil partnership entered into on or after 1 December 2018 revokes an existing nomination.

AFPS 75 allows no nomination: only a legal spouse, civil partner or eligible children can receive its lump sum or pension, or an eligible partner if the death was attributable to service, and with none the lump sum goes to the estate. Separately, AFPS 05 and AFPS 15 members can allocate up to 37.5% of their pension to a financially dependent person; it cannot be cancelled, and is void if the member dies before the pension is paid.

When the death was caused by service

Where service caused the death, other benefits may be available outside the pension scheme. GOV.UK says a death from service after 6 April 2005 is claimed through the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, and an earlier one may bring a War Widow(er)'s Pension. Our guide to war widows' pension rates covers the older route.

What families ask after a forces pension holder dies

Does an army pension transfer to a spouse after death?

Not as the same pension. The survivor receives a separate pension worked out as a share of the member's, generally 50% for AFPS 75 and 62.5% for AFPS 05 and AFPS 15, according to Veterans UK's factsheet.

Does a widow lose the pension if she remarries?

Under AFPS 05 and AFPS 15 the pension is paid for life regardless of remarriage or a new partner. In AFPS 75 it is for life for deaths attributable to service since 31 October 2000 and others since 1 April 2015; a pension suspended because of a new relationship before 1 April 2015 stays suspended, though it can be restored on application if that relationship ended on or after that date.

What if the member had no partner or children?

The lump sum goes to a nominee or the estate in AFPS 05 and AFPS 15, and to the estate in AFPS 75.

Is the lump sum paid to the family tax-free?

The scheme booklets describe the death lump sum as tax-free and the survivor's pension as taxable. Veterans UK's tax factsheet for Pension Awareness Week 2026 adds that tax rules limit how much of certain lump sums can normally be paid tax-free, and points to the Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance as relevant to lump-sum death benefits.

Does an ex-spouse get anything?

Under AFPS 05 and AFPS 15, not a survivor's pension once the divorce or dissolution is final. The AFPS 75 booklet limits benefits to a legal spouse, civil partner or eligible children, or an eligible partner where service caused the death. A share of the pension may instead have been given by a court order at the divorce: see armed forces pensions and divorce.

For the general rules across other pensions, see pension death benefits. The booklets cannot answer everything a bereaved family wants to know. An FCA-authorised adviser will take you through the rest by phone, free of charge, after a request made in the form on this page.

Sources