Charlie Radclyffe8 Mar 2026

A history of the War Pension Scheme

War pensions have been part of British life for centuries. At their core, they are about supporting people whose health or lives have been changed by military service, and helping the families of those who died because of that service.

 

There were early forms of support as far back as the time of King Alfred. Later, in 1592–93, a law passed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I allowed local parishes to raise money each week to help wounded soldiers. During the Civil Wars in the 1640s, that idea was expanded into a more effective national system, and support was extended not just to injured soldiers but also to war widows and the families of those who had been killed. The principle behind it still makes sense today: if someone has served their country and suffered because of it, they should not be left without help.

 

Over the years, that support became more organised. In 1681, the Royal Hospital Chelsea was built to care for disabled soldiers, and in 1685 it began paying allowances to soldiers who had been injured in service or who had completed 20 years in the army. Officers who were injured could also receive pensions based on how serious their injuries were. In 1705, Greenwich Hospital opened to support disabled sailors. Until the First World War, army pensions were mainly managed by the Board of Commissioners of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. When the war began, responsibility for army officers’ pensions moved to the War Office, while naval pensions were dealt with by the Admiralty, which had taken over the role of Greenwich Hospital.

 

The First World War put huge pressure on the system because so many people were injured or killed. In 1915, new rules introduced weekly pensions for injured servicemen. Those who were totally disabled could receive a full pension, while those who were partly disabled could receive less. Extra payments were also introduced for children, widows and parents. The system kept changing in 1916 and 1917. Compensation could be paid not only for injuries caused by service, but also for conditions made worse by service, and the focus shifted away from lost earnings and more towards the level of disablement a person had suffered.

 

Support for families became more formal, too. Widows and orphans had already been helped by the Royal Patriotic Fund, set up in 1854. In 1915, the Naval and Military War Pensions Act created a Statutory Committee to provide extra support, including hospital treatment, job training and help finding work for disabled former servicemen and their dependants. This work was carried out through local groups across the country, later replaced by a smaller number of War Pensions Committees.

 

By 1916, so many different bodies were involved that the system had become hard to manage. At that point, pension work was split between several departments, including the War Office, the Chelsea Commissioners, the Army Pensions Issue Department and the Statutory Committee for supplementary pensions, with local pension committees helping people to make claims and deal with changes in circumstances. To bring it all together, the Ministry of Pensions was created in 1917. It took over pension work from the army and navy authorities and later became responsible for the air services as well, including the Royal Air Force when it was formed in 1918. Even after this reform, the system could still be difficult to navigate. People making claims after leaving service often had to complete several forms, go through a medical assessment, wait for records to be gathered, and deal with different offices for decisions and payments. For many, it was a slow and frustrating process.

 

After the First World War, the government also tried moving much of this work out of London and into regional pension offices across the UK and Ireland. From around 1919 to 1920, regional offices were set up in places such as Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham, Nottingham and Bristol. The aim was to make administration more local and easier to manage, although most of these regional offices were later closed and work was recentralised. The surviving pension ledgers from this period are an important reminder of how the system worked in practice. They were organised by region and by type of claim, such as disabled soldiers, widows or dependants, and many appear to have been created when cases were transferred from London to the new regional offices. Although much of the detailed paperwork has been lost, these records still offer valuable insight into the day-to-day running of the post-war pension system.

 

After the First World War, some responsibility went back to the separate armed services during peacetime. But when the Second World War began in 1939, responsibility for claims linked to service after 2 September 1939 was handed back to the Ministry of Pensions. At the start of the Second World War, the rules said that an injury or illness had to be directly caused by war service, or made worse by it. In most cases, people had to show clear evidence, usually from official records, that their disability was connected to service. The rules changed slightly in 1940 and 1943. Then, after pressure from Parliament and the public, much bigger reforms were introduced in 1943 and 1944 to make the system fairer for claimants.

 

In 1947, the rules became stricter for claims made more than seven years after someone had left service, unless they had already received an award. Then, in 1949, the law was widened so that injury or death no longer had to be caused by war service specifically; it was enough if it had been caused by service. After the Second World War, extra benefits were also introduced to meet specific needs. The legal basis for war pensions still comes from special powers linked to the Crown and the armed forces. For many years, separate legal rules were made for the Navy, Army and Air Force. In 1977, that changed, and one set of Orders in Council could cover all three services together. These rules count as a form of primary legislation, which means courts cannot simply cancel them under the Human Rights Act, although they should still be interpreted in line with human rights law where possible.

 

There have also been special powers to allow payments in unusual or exceptional cases where the normal rules did not quite fit. These powers have sometimes been used to provide extra support, for example, to widows or to people who need constant care.

 

Today, the War Pensions Scheme provides compensation for injury, illness or death caused by military service before 6 April 2005. It is separate from the Armed Forces Pension Scheme, which is a defined benefit occupational pension scheme rather than a compensation scheme. Unlike most public service pension schemes, the Armed Forces Pension Scheme does not require members to make pension contributions directly, although the value of pension benefits is taken into account when pay is set. There have been several Armed Forces pension schemes over time, including AFPS 75, AFPS 05 and the current AFPS 15, but the War Pensions Scheme remains the key route for compensation relating to service before 6 April 2005. The main War Pensions rules are set out in the Service Pensions Order 2006, which came into force on 10 April 2006. It brought together and updated earlier rules, and it has been amended many times since. The scheme applies to both regular and reserve forces, and there are also some smaller related schemes for people in similar situations, such as members of the Merchant Navy who served in times of conflict.

 

Under the scheme, a War Disablement Pension can be claimed at any time after someone has left the Armed Forces. However, the rules on proof are usually stricter if a claim is made more than seven years after leaving service, and an award will usually only be paid from the date the claim is made. Awards are based on the percentage of disablement. If the disablement is assessed at under 20 per cent, the award is usually paid as a one-off lump sum, known as a gratuity. If it is assessed at 20 per cent or more, the award is usually paid as an ongoing pension, either weekly or monthly. Extra allowances may also be available, depending on the level of disablement, particularly where the award reaches 40, 60 or 80 per cent. The scheme also provides support for bereaved families. A War Widow(er)’s Pension may be paid to the surviving spouse or civil partner of someone whose death was caused or made worse by military service. In some circumstances, an unmarried partner may also qualify.

 

The wider pensions system also helps explain where war pensions fit. Before April 1975, most personnel who left before completing a full career had no pension entitlement unless they were medically retired, and many instead received only a gratuity. From 1975 onwards, preserved or deferred pension rights were introduced for early leavers, which marked an important change in the broader Armed Forces pension system, though not in the separate compensation principle behind war pensions. Later reforms created AFPS 05 in 2005 and AFPS 15 in 2015, with AFPS 15 moving from a final salary model to a career average model. In 2018, the McCloud judgment found that transitional protections in the 2015 reforms had unlawfully discriminated against younger members, leading to a remedy that allows affected members to choose which scheme applied to their service during the relevant period. This matters as background because it shows how occupational pensions and compensation have developed on different tracks, even though they are often discussed together.

 

There are also some special features within the scheme. Mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos, has been treated as a prescribed injury since 2009 and is assessed at 100 per cent disablement in recognition of the seriousness of the condition and the need to speed up decisions and payments. Since 2016, people diagnosed with mesothelioma may receive a lump sum instead of regular payments. There is also no separate compensation fund for nuclear test veterans, but the MOD has introduced a supplementary evidence form to help people in that group make a claim under the War Pensions Scheme more quickly. In some cases, people with service-related conditions before 6 April 2005 may also come within the Armed Forces Attributable Benefits Scheme, which can provide a guaranteed minimum income where a War Pension award is already in payment and the disablement is assessed at 20 per cent or more. For people looking for more detailed guidance, further information is available through GOV.UK, Veterans Gateway and the Ministry of Defence’s Joint Service Publication 765.

 

While the detail has changed over time, the basic purpose has stayed the same: to recognise service and to provide support when that service has led to injury, illness or loss. Just as importantly, this long history helped shape the wider idea that there is a lasting duty to support those who serve and the families affected by that service — something that still sits at the heart of how veteran welfare is understood today.

 

As of 31 March 2025, 76,722 received a war pension and 9,147 received a war widows/widowers pension.  In 2024/25, just under 4000 veterans submitted a new war pension claim, with a similar number submitting a second/subsequent claim.  During 2024/25, war pension payments totalled £650 million.

 

Note: The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) is separate from the War Pensions Scheme and covers injury, illness or death caused by service on or after 6 April 2005.  We will soon provide a history of the AFCS scheme.

 

Bibliography

20 years of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme