How we write, research and check the content on this site, in plain English. Last updated 12 June 2026.
The short version: our content is written by one named author, every figure is traced back to a primary official source, and when something is wrong we fix it fast and date-stamp the change.
This page sets out, in full, how the Armed Forces Pension content on this site is produced. It explains who writes it, how figures are sourced and checked, how often pages are reviewed, how to report an error and what happens when you do, and exactly where we sit on the line between education and regulated financial advice. We have written it for the people who actually use the site: serving personnel weighing up a transfer, an immediate pension or commutation, and veterans and families trying to understand a preserved pension or a survivor benefit. Those are decisions with real money behind them, so it matters that you can see how we work and judge whether to trust what you read here.
Everything on this site is written by a single named author, James Hartley, a former Army Warrant Officer and forces-pensions writer. There is one writer behind this site, not an anonymous content team. That means you can see exactly who stands behind every guide and every figure, and hold a real person to account for getting it right.
We use the single-named-author model on purpose. A lot of money and pensions content online is published under a brand name or a generic “editorial team” byline, which makes it impossible to know who actually wrote it or what they know. Here there is one person whose name is on the work, who has served, and who has read the scheme rules rather than skimmed a summary. If a guide is unclear, out of date or wrong, there is a real author to answer for it, and the author page tells you who that is.
James writes from lived experience of service and from close reading of the scheme documents. He is nota regulated financial adviser, and nothing on this site is presented as regulated advice. The author's job is to explain how the Armed Forces Pension Schemes work, to show the arithmetic clearly, and to point you to the official sources and to a regulated adviser when a decision needs one. Where a topic genuinely depends on your personal circumstances, the content says so rather than pretending one answer fits everyone.
Every rate, accrual figure and factor on this site comes from a primary source, the original official guidance, not a blog or a forum. Before a number is published it is cross-checked against that source. The main sources we use are:
You can see the full list on our sources page, and read how each figure feeds into the maths in how we calculate.
When we research a topic we start from the scheme rules and the official guidance, not from whatever ranks highest in a search. The order is deliberate: read the primary source, write down the exact figure and the date it applies from, then build the explanation around it. A forum thread or a news article might tell us a rule has changed, but it never counts as the source. We chase the change back to gov.uk, JSP 764 or a Veterans UK bulletin before a single number moves on this site. If we cannot trace a figure to a primary source, we do not publish it.
Take the April 2026 increase to pensions in payment. The illustrative walk-through below shows how a single number travels from the rules to the page:
The same discipline applies to the harder numbers, such as the AFPS 15 commutation rate of about £12 of lump sum for every £1 of annual pension given up, or the EDP qualifying tests of broadly 18 years and age 40 under AFPS 05 and 20 years and age 40 under AFPS 15. We label any worked example as illustrative, because the exact result for your record depends on your own service history and on factors that only Veterans UK can apply to your case.
Figures are checked against official guidance, not opinion. We don't guess, round generously, or repeat numbers we've seen elsewhere without tracing them back to the source. Where the official guidance gives a definitive number, we use that number rather than a vague range, so you get the clearest answer the rules allow.
Fact-checking is built into how a page is written rather than bolted on at the end. Each scheme has its own rules, and we keep them separate so they never get blurred together. AFPS 75 is a final-salary scheme worth up to 48.5% of final pay with an automatic tax-free lump sum of three times the pension and a normal pension age of 60. AFPS 05 is also final-salary, building at one seventieth of final pay for each year up to about 57%, again with an automatic three times lump sum, and a normal pension age of 65. AFPS 15 is a career-average scheme that banks one forty-seventh of your pay each year, revalues it for inflation, has no automatic lump sum, and sets its normal pension age equal to your State Pension age. Mixing those up is the single biggest source of error in pension content, so every figure is tied back to the specific scheme it belongs to.
We also take care with the McCloud remedy, which affects anyone who was serving across the remedy period of 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022. Two years of qualifying service is the general threshold for scheme benefits. These are exactly the points where a sloppy summary misleads people, so they get extra scrutiny and a clear date attached.
If you spot something that looks wrong, please tell us via the contact page. We'll verify it against the official guidance, correct it, and date-stamp the change so you can see when it was fixed. We'd always rather be told and put it right than leave a wrong figure standing.
You do not need to be an expert to report something. The more useful reports tell us the page you were reading, the figure or sentence that looks off, and, if you have it, where the correct number comes from. Even a rough “this does not match my P60” or “Veterans UK told me something different” is genuinely helpful, because it tells us where to look. Send whatever you have through the contact page and we will take it from there.
Every report is checked against the primary source, not just accepted or dismissed. If you are right, we correct the page, note the date the correction was made, and where it matters we say what changed so returning readers are not caught out. If our figure was actually correct, we will explain why, because often the confusion comes from two schemes being compared or from a figure that is right for one year and not another. Either way you get a real answer rather than silence. We treat a wrong figure on a pensions site as a serious problem, not a typo, because someone may be making a decision on the back of it.
Pension figures change. We update our content for the annual April increaseand for any rule change that affects the schemes, and we show the date a change applies from so you always know which year's rates you're reading.
Our review schedule has a fixed annual point and an event-driven one. The fixed point is the April uprating each year, when pensions in payment are increased in line with the previous September's CPI, so every figure that depends on that increase is checked and refreshed. The event-driven reviews happen whenever something changes the rules: a new uprating order, a change to the GAD factors that drive commutation and transfer values, a development in the McCloud remedy, or a correction we have been told about. When a page is updated we change its last reviewed date, and where a figure is tied to a tax year or a specific date we show that date next to the figure rather than leaving you to guess.
This site is independent. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the Ministry of Defence, Veterans UK, JPAC or HM Government. Our content is general educational information, not regulated financial advice. For advice tailored to your situation, speak to a regulated financial adviser. For an official figure for your own pension, contact Veterans UK.
Independence cuts both ways. Because we are not run by the MOD or Veterans UK, we can explain things in plain language and point out where the official process is slow or confusing. But it also means we cannot see your service record and cannot issue an official figure. The numbers on this site are estimates built from the published rules. The authoritative figure for your own pension comes from Veterans UK, through a form 12 if you are still serving or a form 14 if you hold a preserved pension. If our estimate and their forecast disagree, theirs is the one that counts, and we say so wherever it matters.
It is worth being blunt about the limits of what we do. We explain how the schemes work and help you put rough numbers on your own situation, which is enough to ask better questions and to spot when something does not add up. It is not enough to base an irreversible decision on. Choices such as commuting part of your pension, transferring benefits, or timing your exit around an immediate pension or EDP can be hard or impossible to undo, and the right answer depends on tax, other savings, health and family circumstances that a calculator cannot see. For those decisions, get advice from someone regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are not FCA regulated and do not claim to be.
One named person, James Hartley, a former Army Warrant Officer. There is no anonymous content team behind the byline, which is the whole point of the single-author model.
No. They are estimates traced to primary official sources, which is not the same as an official forecast for your record. For that, contact Veterans UK using form 12 if you are serving or form 14 for a preserved pension.
At least once a year for the April uprating, plus whenever a rule, factor or remedy change affects the schemes. We date-stamp updates so you can see which year's rates you are reading.
Tell us through the contact page with the page and the figure. We check it against the source, correct it if needed, and date-stamp the change, or explain why the figure stands.
No. It is general educational information. For a decision about your money, speak to a regulated financial adviser, and please read our disclaimer.
Estimates, not advice. Our figures are estimates to help you understand your armed forces pension. For decisions about your money, get advice from a regulated adviser, and see our disclaimer.