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The Armed Forces Pension Schemes (AFPS) cover serving and retired members of the Royal Navy, the British Army and the Royal Air Force. There are three scheme generations: AFPS 75, AFPS 05 and AFPS 15. When a member dies, their family can claim a tax-free lump sum and, where there is a spouse, civil partner or eligible partner, an immediate pension for life. Whether probate is needed turns on who the lump sum is payable to.
Usually no — but not because the benefits sit in a discretionary trust. They do not. The Armed Forces Pension Schemes are created by statute and administered by DBS Veterans UK on behalf of the Ministry of Defence; there are no trustees and no trust.
The AFPS 15 scheme guide sets out a fixed order for the lump sum: a valid nomination first, and if there is none, anyone entitled to a surviving partner's pension, then anyone entitled to a child's pension, then the personal representatives. Where the money goes to a nominee or a surviving partner, no grant of probate is needed.
Where there is no nomination, no surviving partner and no eligible child, the lump sum goes to the personal representatives and forms part of the estate. In that case, you may need to apply for probate before the funds are released.
A surviving spouse, civil partner or eligible partner receives an immediate pension for life. In AFPS 15 and AFPS 05 it is 62.5% — of a Tier 3 enhanced ill-health pension for a death in service, or of the member's own pension for a death in deferment or retirement. In AFPS 75 the long-term pension is half the pension the member would have had on ill-health discharge, preceded by a short-term pension at the rate of basic pay for 91 days (182 days where there are eligible children). The pension is taxable as income and continues on remarriage or a new civil partnership. Where the surviving partner is more than 12 years younger than the member, the pension is reduced.
Eligible children receive a pension: in AFPS 15, 25% of the member's benefits for an only child alongside a surviving partner's pension, or, where there is no surviving partner, an equal share of 100% capped at 33.3% each.
This scheme pension is not the same thing as a Guaranteed Income Payment. A GIP is paid under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme where the death was caused by service on or after 6 April 2005; for a service-caused death before that date the equivalent is a War Widow(er)'s Pension under the War Pension Scheme. Those are separate claims from the pension scheme benefits, and a family may be entitled to both.
Members can nominate a person or organisation to receive the tax-free lump sum, on Form 2. This is not an expression of wishes that gets weighed up. The AFPS 15 scheme guide is explicit: "Even where a spouse, civil partner or eligible partner exists, a valid nomination will take precedence," and "DBS Veterans UK will comply with the wishes expressed in the nomination form." A member cannot nominate anyone to receive the pension — that follows the scheme rules.
That cuts both ways for a bereaved family. A nomination that was never updated still stands, so if you are a surviving spouse and an old form names somebody else, the lump sum follows the form. A nomination can fail, though: it is invalid on divorce, on remarriage, where the member stopped living with a nominated cohabiting partner, where the nominee died first, or where the nominee is convicted of the member's murder or manslaughter. Any marriage or civil partnership entered into on or after 1 December 2018 revokes an existing nomination outright. Ask DBS Veterans UK what is on file before assuming anything.
See GOV.UK for the latest guidance on tax on a private pension you inherit.
From 6 April 2027 most unused pension funds and death benefits come into the estate for inheritance tax. HMRC's policy paper of 26 November 2025 states that all death in service benefits payable from a registered pension scheme are excluded from that change — discretionary and non-discretionary schemes alike — as are dependants' scheme pensions from a defined benefit arrangement. Both of the main Armed Forces death benefits therefore sit outside it: the death-in-service lump sum, and the surviving partner's pension.
Where a lump sum is instead paid to the personal representatives, it is assessed for inheritance tax with everything else the member owned. The spouse, civil partner and charity exemptions are kept, and personal representatives, not scheme administrators, are liable for reporting and paying any inheritance tax due on whatever is in scope. Read our guide to pensions and inheritance tax from April 2027 and the inheritance tax guide for 2026/27.
If no nomination form is on file, DBS Veterans UK does not exercise a discretion — the scheme rules decide. The lump sum goes first to anyone entitled to a surviving partner's pension, then to anyone entitled to a child's pension, and only then to the personal representatives. Where it reaches the personal representatives it becomes part of the estate, subject to the probate process and potentially inheritance tax.