Armed forces pension annual benefit statement (the BIS)
Most people, veterans included, call it an annual benefit statement. The armed forces schemes do not. The document you are looking for is the Benefit Information Statement, or BIS, and it is a statutory statement that must go to every serving member once a year. If you searched for an armed forces pension annual benefit statement you are in the right place: this page covers what the BIS shows, why it lands on your birthday rather than on a national date, and why it will never match a pension forecast.
Key takeaways
- The real name is the Benefit Information Statement (BIS). No AFPS document is called an annual benefit statement.
- Required by section 14 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 and issued by Defence Business Services, not Equiniti and not the Veterans UK Helpline.
- It is issued on your birthday, not on a national date like the 31 August other schemes use.
- Active serving members only. Deferred members use form 14; pensioners get an Equiniti Advice of Payment letter and a P60.
- A BIS is a snapshot as if you left on your birthday; a forecast uses a future exit date you choose. They will not agree.
- It is not your McCloud statement. That is the Remediable Service Statement (RSS).
Annual benefit statement, or Benefit Information Statement?
The phrase comes from the rest of the public sector. The NHS, local government and firefighters' schemes all issue an annual benefit statement under that name, so it is the wording people reach for. In the armed forces the same job is done by the Benefit Information Statement, written in the AFPS 15 booklet as the Annual Benefits Information Statement and shortened to BIS.
It is not a courtesy document. JSP 905, the scheme's administrative manual, requires the scheme administrator to give an annual Benefit Information Statement to each active member, under Treasury directions made under section 14 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013. That statute is where your entitlement comes from.
It is produced by Defence Business Services (DBS) and processed by its administration contractor Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL). You will also see the issuer written as DBS Veterans UK or the DBS Veterans UK Pensions Division, which is the same body.
Two bodies that do not issue your BIS. Equiniti Paymaster only pays pensions already in payment, and the Veterans UK Helpline handles War Pension and AFCS compensation. Service pension queries go to JPAC on 0800 085 3600.
Why it arrives on your birthday
Most public service schemes batch their statements and aim to get them out by 31 August. The armed forces schemes do not. JSP 905 says the BIS is issued on an active member's birthday, and the AFPS 15 booklet says it arrives shortly after. The MOD's published volumes bear that out: the Armed Forces Pension Board reports statements going out in every month of the year, with the busiest being October and January.
So there is no national statement season and nothing to chase in the autumn. If your birthday is in March, your statement is a March event, and the figures are struck at that date.
That date is also the basis of the sums. A BIS shows the pension and Early Departure Payment you would get if you left on that birthday, plus what your spouse or civil partner would get if you died in service then. It is a photograph of today, not a projection.
DBS added a digital BIS on JPA from November 2023 and on the Defence Gateway from January 2024. What access either route needs is not published, so if you cannot find yours, ask unit HR rather than assume it was never issued.
Who gets a BIS, and what everyone else gets
The duty in JSP 905 is owed to active members, meaning people still serving. It expressly excludes deferred pensions not linked to current service, and pensions in payment. If you have left, no annual statement is coming.
| Your status | Annual BIS? | What you get instead |
|---|---|---|
| Still serving | Yes, on your birthday | Not applicable |
| Left with a preserved pension | No | A written forecast on request using form 14, one free a year |
| Pension in payment | No | An Equiniti Advice of Payment letter each April or May, plus a P60 |
Deferred members are not left with nothing. Ask DBS for a written forecast of your preserved benefits using form 14; you get one free formal forecast a year. If you are in scope for the 2015 remedy you can also request a Remediable Service Statement annually, free of charge.
Once in payment the annual document changes again. Each April or May Equiniti sends an Advice of Payment letter giving your new annual rate from 6 April, the increase applied, your gross and net payments for the year ahead, and your tax code. The P60 is in the same envelope.
Since 1 April 2022, AFPS 15 has been the only scheme open to Regular and Reserve personnel, so every current BIS is an AFPS 15 statement carrying any protected legacy accrual as well. Our guide to which scheme you are in explains those layers.
BIS or pension forecast? The difference that matters
This is the question the page exists to answer. Members compare a BIS against a forecast, find the numbers differ, and assume one must be wrong. Usually both are right, because they answer different questions.
The scope split is official, not a matter of interpretation. JSP 905 lists what the BIS leaves out, then routes those same items to a forecast: details on these items can still be obtained from DBS upon request using AFPS Form 12.
So if you have bought Added Pension, carry a debit from a pension sharing order, transferred benefits in, or hold a separate preserved AFPS pension, none of it shows on your BIS. That is not an error; those items are excluded by design.
| Benefit Information Statement | Formal pension forecast | |
|---|---|---|
| How you get it | Automatically, once a year | You apply for it |
| Form | None | Form 12 serving, form 14 after leaving |
| Who can get one | Active members only | Serving and deferred members |
| Date basis | As if you left on your birthday | A future exit date you choose |
| Scope | Excludes Added Pension, pension sharing orders, transfer sums, other preserved AFPS pensions | Your actual record, every scheme you accrued in, and the items the BIS omits |
| Cost | Free | One free formal forecast a year |
| Use for planning | No | Yes |
That is why a forecast for a planned exit date and a BIS for your last birthday will not agree, and are not meant to. Get the official figure with form 12 if you are serving or form 14 if you have left; how to get a forecast covers the process.
Two warnings worth taking seriously. A BIS is only as accurate as the JPA record behind it, and auditing that record is your job, not the administrator's. And because of what it leaves out, it should not be used for financial planning. Our MOD pension calculator is guidance only too.
A BIS is not your McCloud remedy statement
If you had service between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 you are in scope for the McCloud remedy, and the document that deals with it is not the BIS. It is the Remediable Service Statement (RSS), which compares the benefits payable from each scheme for your remedy service so you can elect.
The RSS is also the fuller document. It itemises benefits transferred in during the remedy period and adjusts for a pension sharing order with the divorce debit shown separately, two of the items JSP 905 strips out of a BIS.
You get one RSS a year while serving, and can request one free of charge each year once you have left with a deferred pension. An informational RSS is not the election: the one carrying your choice arrives when your benefits become payable, and cannot be changed once payment starts. As at 13 April 2026 the MOD had issued 99,736 statements and could give no timescale for the rest.
Whether the current BIS template says anything about remedy service is not documented on gov.uk, so do not read your statement as confirmation either way. The RSS is the remedy document. Our McCloud remedy calculator gives a feel for the comparison meanwhile.
If your statement is missing, late or wrong
Start close to home. Non-receipt and data errors are usually a service record problem, and unit HR staff can often sort the record out. If they cannot, they pass it to JPAC to investigate.
JPAC is the armed forces pensions enquiry centre: 0800 085 3600 from the UK, 0044 141 224 3600 from overseas, 94560 3600 on the military network, or dbs-pensionshelp@dbspv.mod.uk. Do not use the Veterans UK Helpline for a statement query. That is the compensation line and it cannot see your pension record.
If the statement is wrong and informal routes have failed, the formal step is the AFPS internal dispute resolution procedure; incorrect information and unreasonable delay are both listed grounds. Complain through the form on gov.uk, by email to dbs-afpsi-authority@mod.gov.uk, or by post to the Armed Forces Pension Schemes Manager, Veterans UK, Mail Point 610, Kentigern House, Glasgow G2 8EX, quoting your service number. The target is 60 working days, though gov.uk says it cannot currently meet that.
There is no appeal against the final AFPS decision. If you are still unhappy, the next step is the Pensions Ombudsman on 0800 917 4487 or enquiries@pensions-ombudsman.org.uk. That is a different ombudsman from the one handling War Pension and AFCS complaints.
One thing worth saying plainly. This is an independent education site, not affiliated with the MOD, Veterans UK, DBS or JPAC, and nothing here is regulated financial advice. No specimen BIS is published, so where this page cannot tell you what your own statement shows, ask DBS.
See your own numbers
Get your pension, lump sum and EDP in seconds.
Frequently asked questions
James Hartley
James Hartley spent 22 years in the British Army, including unit personnel administration and pensions and records duties, and now writes the scheme guides and scenario pages on this site. He is not a regulated financial adviser, so the content is general information rather than personal advice.
Sources: gov.uk · GAD factors · Veterans UK · Forces Pension Society · MoneyHelper.