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News & Views from the NFF Chair
home before I leave and really need this
money to go towards the purchase. If not,
will have to move our family from the SFA
we’re living in at the moment into rented
accommodation, then again into our own
home. This all adds to the stress of leaving
the Service, finding a job etc.
A – The Pay & Pension Agency currently states that
payment of terminal benefits and pension will be
paid within 30 days of termination date. Both the
current pension schemes, AFPS75 and AFPS05,
have in their Statutory Instruments the details of
when pension benefits will be paid to members.
AFPS75 states that ‘the pension and the lump sum
become payable immediately on the member
ceasing to be in Service’. AFPS05 states that ‘a
scheme member is entitled to a taxable pension for
life and a pension lump sum if he leaves the Regular
Armed Forces at or beyond normal retirement
age’. The Navy Pay Colonel has approached HM
Treasury in the past to determine if it would be
possible to bring forward this payment to help the
individual’s transition to civilian life easier but the
response has been a clear and unequivocal “No”.
This is because the legislation underpinning both
Pension Schemes dictates that benefits are only
payable on the day of departure from the Service.
Even if such an option was possible it would be
worth bearing in mind that, as the individual is still
serving, such payment would be treated as a benefit
in kind and therefore liable to tax.
The future pension scheme is currently being
designed and there may be scope to allow for more
flexibility over payments. Lord Hutton made the
recommendation that “members should have greater
choice over when to start drawing their pension
benefits”. However, it must be borne in mind that
the HM Treasury position on taxation of benefits in
kind is unlikely to alter, so any change may be limited
and unlikely to result in a pre-retirement lump sum
within the timescales proposed here.
Q – I am living in SSFA (Substitute
Service Families Accommodation) and the
managing agent, HCR, aren’t supporting
me as much as I had hoped. What can I do?
A – Please go back to HCR and explain your
concerns. They are the managing agent and
hold responsibility for ensuring everything runs
smoothly. It may also be worth checking within the
divisional system to see if there is any additional
support from the Chain of Command to help
should the need arise. (This caller did go back to
HCR and is now very happy with the level of support
they are receiving from them.)
Q – My request for a travel warrant for my
wife, whilst I am deployed on Herrick 14,
has been turned down by my Unit Clerk,
because my family live in Poole whilst the
Unit is in Plymouth. Surely the location of
the family isn’t relevant?
A – If you are deployed for over four months
your wife will be entitled to travel to either her
or your parents as per the JSP. (04.1505: Travel
for Immediate Families. Concessionary
Travel for Families (CTF) is provided to enable
the immediate family of Service personnel to
have the benefit of the support of the Service
person’s close family, during extended periods of
deployment by their Service spouse/civil partner.
Eligibility for FTR is created when an Acc (or
INVOLSEP) Service person is deployed from the
UK or from an overseas station to an operational
location, exercise or deployment that attracts the
Deployment Welfare Package (Overseas). This
excludes those in Seagoing Longer Separation
Allowance Qualifying Units who are entitled to use
transferred Get You Home (Seagoers) Warrants.
All Service personnel are eligible for CTF; for
Reserve personnel however this is unlikely to
extend beyond Full Time Reserve Service (Full
Commitment) and mobilised personnel, except
in DILFOR and compassionate circumstances.
The assessment of CTF entitlement from the
permanent duty station in UK or overseas is to be
made at Unit level at the start of the deployment.)
Q – I am Fijian, living here with my
husband and family for the past three years
and I’m wondering if I should apply for an
Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) visa. My
current visa doesn’t expire until 2013; do
I have to wait until then to apply or can I
apply now? My husband is currently in the
process of applying for his ILR visa so we
would like to submit the one application
because of costs.
A – As long as your husband is in the Service he
doesn’t need to apply for ILR. He has ‘Service
exempt’ stamped in his passport, so would be
wasting his money in applying for this visa. 28
days before he is due to leave the Service he will
be advised on what he needs to do and then will
need to apply for ILR at that point. Because of that,
as your visa doesn’t expire until 2013 you won’t
need to submit your application until a month
before that end date.
Q – If a serving person is involuntarily or
voluntarily made redundant from the RN
may they subsequently reapply to the RN if
the Service recruits thereafter?
A – Yes they can. The options are – apply Intra
Service/to a shortage branch in the RN or Inter
Service to either RAF or Army. In the redundancy
letter that will be issued, mention will be made of
‘What to do next’ that will encompass such options.
Q – I am married to a Royal Marine. I have
seen a change in his behavior at home and
I need to talk to somebody. I can’t speak
to RM Welfare because I know them. Who
else can I talk to?
A – You don’t have to use RM Welfare. You can
go to NPFS – gave NPFS contact details.
Q – If my friend and I are in exactly the
same job/category and he gets told that he
is being made redundant, but doesn’t want
it, and I do, can we swap?
A – No.
Q – I am due to leave the Service and have
decided to move my family back to our roots
where we own our own home. This means
that my wife will have to leave her job and
is subsequently not entitled to Job Seekers
Allowance as she is voluntarily resigning,
though this is due to Service reasons.
A – The Job Centre Plus Armed Forces Champion
reviewed existing procedural guidance to establish
how Leaving Voluntarily works when someone
makes a claim for Jobseekers Allowance. When a
person states on their JSA claim form that ‘my spouse/
partner got a job somewhere else so I had to leave’
their employer will be sent a form to complete and
the claimant will also be asked to provide further
information around the circumstances of leaving that
job. The claimant may also be asked ‘have they moved
out of the area they were working in beyond daily
travelling?’ All this information will then be sent to a
Decision Maker who will look to see if the claimant
may have ‘just cause’ in their personal or domestic
life for leaving their job. Because the circumstances in
which someone leaves employment are so varied,
the Decision Maker should consider, as a whole,
all the circumstances in which the claimant left
employment. The Armed Forces Champion intranet
site states: ‘Spouses of Service personnel who
leave employment to follow their partner will
have just cause for leaving that employment
provided they did not leave earlier than was
reasonably necessary in order to arrange the
move. This means they should not be precluded
from receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) on the
grounds of voluntary unemployment. Each case
should be considered on an individual basis using the
relevant legislation and the information provided by
the person claiming JSA.’
We Love HMS
SOMERSET
For a fabulous
Families Day
HOMEPORT AUTUMN 2011 5