War Pension Scheme calculator

How a War Pension is worked out

The War Pension Scheme assesses how much your condition affects you as a percentage, called the degree of disablement. A doctor appointed by Veterans UK compares your condition against a healthy person of the same age. That percentage then sets your weekly pension. Mental health conditions, including PTSD, are assessed the same way, by their effect on the whole person.

If you are assessed at 20% or more, you receive a tax-free weekly pension for as long as the assessment holds. Below 20% you receive a one-off gratuity instead of a weekly pension. The pension is index-linked, so it rises each April in line with the previous September's CPI (3.8% for April 2026).

Despite the name, a War Pension is compensation rather than a pension, so it cannot be divided on divorce. It sits outside the pension sharing rules, and no sharing, attachment or earmarking order can be made against it, though a court can still treat the income as a financial resource. Only an AFPS service pension can be shared, which our armed forces pension on divorce guide explains.

War disablement pension rates (April 2026)

These are the Other Ranks weekly rates from the payday in the week of 6 April 2026. Officers are paid a yearly equivalent.

For every band from 20% to 100%, plus the sub-20% gratuities and the extra allowances, see the War Pension rates page.

Extra allowances for severe cases

On top of the basic pension, several supplementary allowances can apply. Constant Attendance Allowance helps where you need daily care, the War Pensioners' Mobility Supplement helps with getting around, and Unemployability Supplement applies where the condition stops you working. Severe PTSD or mental health cases often qualify for these, which is covered in our War Pension for PTSD guide.

Diffuse mesothelioma: the lump sum option

Veterans with diffuse mesothelioma caused by service can choose a one-off lump sum instead of the ongoing war disablement pension. From 6 April 2026 that lump sum is £185,000, up from £140,000. The option was announced in December 2015, took legal effect in April 2016, and is open regardless of when you were diagnosed.

This is a genuine choice, not an extra payment, and it is worth understanding before you make it. Taking the lump sum means giving up the war disablement pension and the survivor benefits that would otherwise follow from it. The government's own assessment put the value of that pension route at up to £14,000 a year, tax free for life.

That trade-off is why the lump sum was introduced. The Royal British Legion argued that veterans who are single, widowed or divorced, around a third of claimants, were losing out badly under the pension route: mesothelioma leaves a short life expectancy, so little of the pension is ever drawn, and with no surviving spouse there is nobody to receive the death benefits. Broadly, the lump sum tends to suit someone with no surviving spouse or dependant, and the pension route tends to suit someone who has one. It is not a decision to take from a web page, and Veterans UK and a service charity adviser can both help you model it.

Two practical points. The figure is benchmarked against the equivalent civilian scheme rather than to inflation, so do not assume it rises every April the way the weekly pension rates do. And other compensation you receive for the same condition, such as civil damages or a civilian scheme payment, can be set against it.

One thing we cannot tell you: the published guidance on this lump sum does not state its tax treatment, and we are not prepared to guess on a payment of this size. The war disablement pension itself is tax free. Confirm the position on the lump sum with Veterans UK before you elect.

This is the War Pension Scheme route, so it applies where the exposure was in service before 6 April 2005, which covers most asbestos exposure cases. Later service falls under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme instead.

War Pension or AFCS?

The date of the injury or illness decides the scheme. Before 6 April 2005 it is the War Pension Scheme. On or after that date it is the newer Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, which uses a tariff and lump sum plus GIP rather than a percentage. Our AFCS vs War Pension guide walks through which applies to you.