Ministry of Defence
Main Building
Whitehall
London SW1A 2HB
United Kingdom
Ref: FOI2020/13134
E-mail:
People-Sec-
xxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
David Crome
request-709665-
11 January 2021
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx Dear Mr Crome,
Thank you for your email of 28 November 2020 requesting the following information:
“My 12 years of service in the Royal Air Force ended in September 1974. At that time I did
not qualify for a service pension. In April 1975 the regulations for qualifying for a service
pension were changed. If I had been made aware that the rules to qualify for a pension were
to be changed shortly after my term of service was finished I could and would have extended
my term of service. Do you have a reason why service people were not informed? and also is
there and hope is being granted a pension?”
I am treating your correspondence as a request for information under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (FOIA).
A search for the information has now been completed within the Ministry of Defence, and I can
confirm that all the information in scope of your request is held.
The information you have requested can be found below.
Prior to 1975 there were no statutory rights to preserved pensions in any public or private pension
schemes. Though some public sector schemes did exist, they typically had very restrictive
qualifying criteria for the award of pensions and those who left voluntarily before meeting these
criteria lost their rights to a pension and their right to receive back contributions paid into an
occupational pension scheme (although in practice most schemes would pay back contributions).
For the Armed Forces, which ran a limited non-contributory scheme, occupational pensions were
awarded only if a member had completed at least 16 years reckonable service as an Officer or 22
years reckonable service as an Other Rank. Commissions or engagements for shorter periods
were on non-pensionable terms. Those who had served 12 years (or nine years in the case of
officers) were however awarded a lump sum gratuity.
The Social Security Act 1973 required all pension schemes to introduce a right to a preserved
pension, for those who left after April 1975. The Act itself was a major milestone as it introduced a
set of standardised rules to ensure pensions schemes were run to a similar standard, alongside
extending the right to a preserved pension to much of the working population. This right was
initially restricted to those who were over the age of 25 and had completed at least five years’
pensionable service. The age requirement was subsequently removed, and the five-year period
reduced to two years.
In March 1975 a leaflet was published which explained the main features of preserved pensions
and gave notice that they would apply to those who served on or after 1 April 1975. Although, the
Act required that preserved pensions had to be introduced no later than 6 April 1975 the provisions
were in the public domain in August 1973. The MOD policy on date of implementation for the
Armed Forces was not established until January 1975 and the implementation took place within the
time frame specified in the Act. The MOD decided, at the time, to wait until the policy details were
established before publicising them, though the broad policy had been widely publicised by the
Government and had been well reported in the media. Although the Act required that preserved
pensions had to be introduced no later than 6 April 1975 there was no consistent date used by
pension schemes across the public sector for the introduction of the legislation; therefore schemes
introduced the legislation at different times.
Personnel who had left Service before 1 April 1975 are, therefore, not entitled to a preserved
pension. The Government is aware of the strength of feeling among former Service personnel who
have not benefited from improvements to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme which were
introduced after they retired. It is a principle of public service pension schemes, however, and one
that has been upheld by successive Governments, that improvements to public sector pension
schemes are not made retrospective. This does not mean your service was not valued, but simply
that in accordance with legal principle, your entitlements were tied to the pension rules in place at
the time of your discharge.
If you are not satisfied with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the handling
of your request, then you should contact us in the first instance at the address above. If informal
resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent
internal review by contacting the Information Rights Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main
Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail
xxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xx). Please note that any request for an
internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on which the attempt to reach
informal resolution has come to an end.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the
Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.
Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate your case until the
MOD internal review process has been completed. Further details of the role and powers of the
Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website,
http://www.ico.org.uk. Yours sincerely,
Defence People Secretariat