How much is an army pension after 8 years?

What eight years is worth in each scheme

Eight years builds a preserved pension worth having and pays nothing on the day you leave. The figure depends on your scheme:

The AFPS 15 figure is eight forty-sevenths of pay, with £45,000 standing in for your revalued career average. The AFPS 05 figure is £45,000 times 8 divided by 70, about 11.4% of final pay. An eight-year career ending in 2026 began in 2018, so it is AFPS 15 throughout and outside the McCloud remedy. The AFPS 05 and AFPS 75 rows are for veterans who served their eight years before 2015.

Eight years sits between the thresholds

Nothing in AFPS 75, AFPS 05 or AFPS 15 turns on eight years. It is below every named point in the schemes: 9 years for the AFPS 75 officer Resettlement Grant, 12 for everyone else's grant, 16 and 22 for the AFPS 75 Immediate Pension, 18 for the AFPS 05 Early Departure Payment and 20 for the AFPS 15 one. Each year adds to the pension, and that is all.

The one group close to a line is AFPS 75 officers. Their Resettlement Grant needs 9 years of service from age 21, at least two of them as an officer, and at April 2025 values it was £20,397. An AFPS 75 officer at eight years was one year short. For everyone else, the grant is four years away at 12 years: £14,059 on AFPS 05 and AFPS 15 at April 2025 values.

So the useful questions at eight years are not about a threshold. They are about where the pension goes next: does it stay where it is, or move with you?

Moving to another public service job: Club transfers

Many people leave after eight years for a job elsewhere in the public sector. If the new employer's pension scheme belongs to the Public Sector Transfer Club, you may be able to move your AFPS benefits into it, rather than leave a preserved pension behind.

The deadline is the thing to watch. The AFPS 15 booklet says that to transfer "you must apply within 12 months of joining the new pension scheme and before your pension is due to be paid", and the AFPS 05 rules set the same one-year limit. After that, the Club route closes. Ask the new scheme early whether it is a Club member and what your AFPS service would buy there.

Transferring is not automatically better. A transfer ends your AFPS rights for good, including the benefits for a spouse or partner, and the new scheme may credit you with a different amount of pension, paid at a different age. Compare the two side by side, and take independent financial advice, which the MOD's own booklets strongly recommend before any transfer.

Where an AFPS pension can and cannot go

Since April 2015 the law has limited where public service pensions can be transferred. Section 95(2A) of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, inserted in 2015, means an unfunded scheme like the AFPS can only transfer to a scheme that does not offer flexible benefits. The AFPS 15 booklet puts it simply: you can only transfer "to a scheme that does not allow you to take cash from your pension (known as a pension drawdown)".

In practice that rules out personal pensions, SIPPs and workplace defined contribution schemes, which is where most private sector employers enrol staff. Another defined benefit scheme can accept a transfer, whether in the Club or outside it.

To transfer outside the Club you need a cash equivalent transfer value from Veterans UK, requested in writing, with one free statement in any 12 months. The value is guaranteed for three months from its guarantee date. Our guide to the armed forces pension CETV covers the timetable and the rules.

If you keep the pension where it is

Most people leave the pension in the AFPS, and nothing is lost by doing so. It stays as a deferred pension, increased each April in line with prices, and is paid at State Pension age on AFPS 15 or 65 on AFPS 05, with the option of taking it from 55 at a permanent reduction.

When it starts, an AFPS 15 pension can be part commuted for tax-free cash at £12 for each £1 of yearly pension, up to 25%. An AFPS 05 or AFPS 75 pension comes with its automatic lump sum of three times the yearly pension. Either way it must be claimed on AFPS Form 8, because it is not paid automatically.

Keep your discharge papers and statements somewhere safe, and keep Veterans UK up to date with your address. The preserved pension guide explains how claiming works.

How to check your own figure

If you are still serving, your Benefit Information Statement shows the AFPS 15 pension you have built, and a Form 12 forecast is free once in any 12 months. After you leave, the official forecast is Form 14, also free once a year, and further forecasts cost £90.

The calculator on this page applies the scheme rules to your own pay and service. Set the scheme to AFPS 15 if your eight years ended recently, and treat the result as an estimate to check against the official forecast.

Run 8 years on your own pay

The worked figures above use a representative salary, so they show the shape of the answer rather than your answer. The army pension calculator takes your own pay, rank and scheme and applies the same rules, and the military pension calculator runs the same engine if that wording matches your record better.

Serving beyond 8 years changes the position considerably, because reaching the Immediate Pension or Early Departure Payment point moves you from a preserved pension to money paid now. If you are close to leaving, check where you sit on the Early Departure Payment calculator before you set a date.