Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to extend the full disregard of military compensation payments applied in Universal Credit to the assessment of Pension Credit.

The receipt of War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards is already fully ignored when calculating eligibility for Universal Credit (UC).

The first £10 per week of a War Pension or AFCS award is disregarded in: income-related Employment and Support allowance; income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance; and Income Support – which are being replaced by UC – as well as in Pension Credit. Armed Forces Independence Payments are also fully disregarded in these benefits and can allow the recipient to qualify for an additional disability amount.

By default, the first £10 of a War Pension or AFCS award is also disregarded in Housing Benefit. Furthermore, a discretionary scheme allows local authorities to fully disregard them if they so wish.

Additionally, War Pensions and AFCS awards are a qualifying income for the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit, which is available to those who reached State Pension age before April 2016.

The treatment of military compensation payments contrasts with other schemes with a disablement element. For example, the Firefighters Compensation Scheme and the Police Pension Scheme have no income disregards applied at all, as any disablement elements form part of their occupational pension and so these are taken fully into account.

The treatment of military compensation payments also contrasts with Industrial Injuries Disablement benefit where there is no weekly disregard.

The £10 weekly disregard for War Pension or AFCS awards in legacy income-related benefits was introduced in recognition of the sacrifices made by service personnel in active service for the country.

There are no plans to change the ways in which War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards interact with means tested benefits.