War widow's pension: amount, tax and means-testing

War widows pension rates for 2026/27: £188.15 a week at the standard rate, paid from age 40, plus an Age Allowance from 65. The pension is tax free.

If your husband, wife or civil partner died because of their service, you may be wondering what the War Widow(er)'s Pension pays, whether it is taxed or counted against other help, and how it sits beside the State Pension. How the pension sits alongside your other income depends on your whole position. Your enquiry, sent by the form on this page for nothing, is picked up by an FCA-authorised advisory firm that phones to hear your own position.

Veterans UK, part of the Ministry of Defence, runs the scheme. Its helpline is a UK freephone, 0808 1914 2 18, open 8.00 am to 4.00 pm Monday to Friday, and GOV.UK describes it as covering benefits, housing and welfare.

The 2026/27 weekly rates

The War Pension Scheme's 2026 rate chart, on GOV.UK and published on 11 February 2026, applies from the payday in the week commencing 6 April 2026. Rates rise each year by the previous September's Consumer Price Index: 3.8% this time.

These are the lines for other ranks, as the chart prints them, in pounds a week:

The chart's label is narrower than the rule. Under article 23 of the Service Pensions Order 2006, the standard rate is paid once you have reached 40, or at any age if you get an allowance for a child or are incapable of self-support; the lower rate is for everyone else. The age rows are the standard rate with the Age Allowance added (our working: £188.15 + £21.50 = £209.65; £188.15 + £41.20 = £229.35; £188.15 + £61.25 = £249.40). Where the late spouse was an officer, section 1.7 of the chart gives the widow's pension as a yearly figure by rank.

Who can be paid

GOV.UK's War Widow(er) Pension guide starts from the date of service: your partner must have served before 6 April 2005, though you may still be eligible if they died of an illness or injury later. One of the following must then apply to your husband, wife or civil partner, in the guide's words:

• “died as result of their service in HM Armed Forces before 6 April 2005”
• “was a civil defence volunteer or a civilian and their death was a result of the 1939 to 1945 war”
• “was a merchant seaman, a member of the naval auxiliary services, or a coastguard and their death was a result of an injury or disease they got during a war or because they were a prisoner of war”
• “died as a result of their service as a member of the Polish Forces under British command during the 1939 to 1945 war, or in the Polish Resettlement Forces”
• “was getting a War Pensions Constant Attendance Allowance at the time of their death, or would have been had they not been in hospital”
• “was getting a War Disablement Pension at the 80% rate or higher and was getting Unemployability Supplement”

Someone who lived with a partner as husband and wife or as civil partners may be entitled too.

Extra allowances on top

A Supplementary Pension may be due if the veteran was discharged before 31 March 1973, and the chart puts the pre-1973 widow's figure at £125.87 a week. Age Allowance is added automatically from age 65 and rises at 70 and 80, at £21.50, £41.20 and £61.25 a week in the chart. Temporary Allowances may follow a death where the spouse had Constant Attendance Allowance or Unemployability Supplement, and run for no more than 26 weeks. Children may qualify for Child Allowance, and Rent Allowance can be paid if you are keeping a home for a child.

Tax, means-tested benefits and the State Pension

GOV.UK's guide is plain on tax: you do not pay tax on the War Widow(er)'s Pension. The State Pension is different, and is taxable; the two are separate payments under separate schemes. The new State Pension is usually based on your own National Insurance record, though in some cases you might inherit State Pension or increase it through a spouse or civil partner (see inheriting additional State Pension).

For Pension Credit, the State Pension Credit Act 2002 counts a war widow's pension as income, but Schedule IV of the State Pension Credit Regulations 2002 disregards £10 of a war widow's or war widower's pension, and the whole of any supplementary pension under article 23(2) of the Service Pensions Order (the pre-1973 one above). The pension-age Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 make the same two disregards, and section 134 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 lets a council run a local scheme that disregards “the whole or part” of a war widow's pension, so ask your council what it ignores. See how much Pension Credit you can get for the amounts themselves.

For Universal Credit, ask DWP how the pension is treated; Council Tax Reduction schemes are set locally, so ask your council. War Widow's or War Widower's Pension is on the list of payments that exempt a household from the benefit cap. The DWP Bereavement Service can check whether a death will affect benefits you already claim. Reducing savings to qualify is not a route: for Universal Credit, if DWP decides you have “deliberately reduced” your money, savings or investments, your award is based on you still having it. Anyone wanting State Pension, other pensions and benefits weighed together can mention all three on the form on this page.

Claiming, and keeping Veterans UK up to date

To claim, download the claim form (WPS0004WWP, with notes on filling it in) or ask the Veterans UK helpline for a copy, and send it to Veterans UK at Norcross, Thornton Cleveleys, Lancashire FY5 3WP. If you disagree with a decision, you can appeal to an independent Pensions Appeal Tribunal, after first asking Veterans UK how it reached the decision and whether it can be reconsidered. See also how to claim a widow's pension.

If you marry, form a civil partnership or start living with a partner on or after 1 April 2015, you carry on getting the pension. If it happened before then, the pension continues only if your late spouse or civil partner left service before 31 March 1973 and the new relationship started on or after 6 April 2005; what happens if you remarry goes through it. Someone who lost the pension that way before 2015 and is still in the relationship may be able to get a War Widow(er)s Recognition Payment instead. Always tell Veterans UK about changes, so the amount stays right.

Veterans UK may also pay a grant of up to £2,200 towards a veteran's funeral where the death was due to service before 6 April 2005 or one of the last two conditions in the list above applies; the claim must be made within 3 months of the funeral. For support beyond money, GOV.UK says MoD Veterans Services “help bereaved families by arranging access to all appropriate services”, through a national network of welfare managers, and its veteran support directory lists other organisations by topic and location.

If the death was on or after 6 April 2005

For a death caused by service on or after 6 April 2005, the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme is the route GOV.UK names. A survivor's pension from your late spouse's own armed forces pension, where one is payable, is a separate matter; see armed forces pension death benefits and which armed forces pension scheme applied. The general picture for dependants is in pension death benefits.

Questions about war widow's pension

Is a war widow's pension taxable?

No. The payments are tax free, though a State Pension paid alongside it can be taxable.

Is the war widow's pension means-tested?

Not in itself: entitlement turns on the circumstances of the death, not on your savings. It counts as income for Pension Credit and pension-age Housing Benefit, though £10 of it is ignored for both, and councils can ignore more. The wider question is in is a widow's pension means-tested.

Does a war widow's pension affect the State Pension?

The State Pension amount depends on your National Insurance record, and the war widow's pension is paid under a separate scheme. Ask DWP and Veterans UK if you want it confirmed for your own case.

When you feel ready to look at your income as a whole, a call with an FCA-authorised advisory firm can be arranged using the form on this page. Readers pay nothing for the call.

Sources: GOV.UK, War Widow(er) Pension; War Pension Scheme: War Widows or War Widowers Pension; Supplementary Allowances; War Disablement Pension Rates 2026 (published 11 February 2026); Your benefits, tax and pension after the death of a partner; What to do when a veteran dies; Armed Forces Compensation Scheme; Veterans UK: contact us; The new State Pension; Benefit cap; legislation.gov.uk: State Pension Credit Act 2002 s15; SI 2002/1792 Sch IV; SI 2006/214 Sch 5; Social Security Administration Act 1992 s134; SI 2006/606 art 23. Read 20 October 2026.