Hundreds of veterans are being ordered to repay tens of thousands of pounds due to pension overpayments resulting from calculation errors. These individuals are facing demands to return funds, despite not being responsible for the discrepancies.
Campaigners are urging the Treasury to waive a total of £5.1 million in overpayments. The issue first came to light in June when a Royal Navy veteran reported being asked to repay £18,200. Thomas Meadows, a 73-year-old recipient of a Meritorious Service Medal, discovered his Armed Forces pension had been overpaid for nine years due to an accounting error.
The affected pensioners have experienced immediate reductions in their monthly payments, with further cuts planned if they accept repayment plans offered by the pension scheme. The errors are linked to the Armed Forces' two final-salary schemes, which provide lifelong incomes for 432,000 retired service members.
Final-salary pensions typically increase annually with inflation. However, it appears that in some instances, the inflation increase was applied twice in a single year. Public sector organizations are legally required to recover overpaid funds, regardless of fault.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) identified these overpayments in November 2024, but veterans were not informed until this year. James Uncles, a 71-year-old former Navy warrant officer, received a letter in February instructing him to return over £40,000. He was informed his monthly pension would be reduced by more than £1,000, a decrease of nearly 25 percent. An additional £750 per month is to be deducted over the next five years to cover overpayments made since January 2021.
Michael Evans, a 68-year-old retired Navy captain, was notified in March that his pension would be cut by £414 per month, with a two-week warning. He was also told he needed to repay £16,000 over 18 months.
The Forces Pension Society (FPS), a guidance service for veterans, has identified 398 such cases and is aware of an additional 1,000 cases involving other types of pension overpayments. Defence Business Services, a unit within the MoD, oversees the pension scheme, with Veterans UK responsible for assessing entitlements and maintaining records, and finance firm Equiniti managing payments.
Major General Neil Marshall of the FPS stated that veterans are not receiving clear calculations, making it difficult for them to verify the accuracy of overpayment corrections. In June, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson told This is Money that the department has a responsibility to recover taxpayer funds when errors occur and aims to do so sensitively and proportionally, offering sensible repayment schedules and one-to-one support through Veterans Services.
Equiniti commented that it supports the recovery of overpayments and works to ensure members receive correct information and appropriate support.