War Pension Unemployability Supplement

What Unemployability Supplement is

Unemployability Supplement is set out in article 12 of the Service Pensions Order 2006. It is paid to someone who already receives a War Pension for disablement "so serious as to make him unemployable". It is not a benefit you can claim on its own. It sits on top of an existing War Pension, which covers injury or illness caused by service before 6 April 2005.

Veterans UK explains the test in plainer terms: "the conditions you get a War Pension for must prevent you from working. If the condition(s) you get a War pension for is not the only reason you cannot work, it must be bad enough by itself to prevent you from working, or a big part of the reason you cannot work."

Unemployability Supplement rates 2026

These rates apply from 6 April 2026 and are set by SI 2026/101. Weekly rates are for other ranks and yearly rates are for officers. The April 2025 weekly rate is shown for comparison.

Two things in the table look odd but are correct. The rate for an eldest or only child is lower than the rate for each other child, because that is what the order says. And the partner rate is a maximum, not a fixed sum.

As an illustration, a veteran with a War Pension at 60% (£148.86 a week from April 2026) who is awarded Unemployability Supplement receives £148.86, plus £153.25, plus the £20.15 Comforts Allowance: £322.26 a week. That is before any Invalidity Allowance or dependant additions, and before any overlap with a DWP benefit. The full War Pension table is on our War Pension rates page.

Who qualifies

Article 12(2) sets two conditions for a new claim. Your War Pension must be assessed at 60% or more, and you must claim before your 65th birthday. The age is fixed at 65 in the order. It is not your State Pension age and does not move with it.

There is one narrow exception, for people who were already getting the supplement before 7 April 1997, lost it by going back to work, and reclaimed within 104 weeks. For them the minimum assessment is 20%. It is not a general route for lower assessments.

Working while you get it

You can still be treated as unemployable if you earn from therapeutic work, as long as Veterans UK expects your earnings to stay under £10,582 a year (from 6 April 2026). Veterans UK's guidance adds that the work must be therapeutic, not harmful to your health and no more than 16 hours a week, and that you must contact them before you start.

Partners and children

The partner addition covers a spouse, civil partner or adult dependant, and only one adult. It is paid only if that person's own income is no more than £95.55 a week, and Veterans UK looks at their earnings, pensions and benefits when deciding how much to pay.

Child additions normally stop at 16. They can continue for a child who is a student or an apprentice, or who cannot support themselves because of an infirmity that began before 16.

Invalidity Allowance and Comforts Allowance

If you were under 60 when your unemployability began, you also get Invalidity Allowance, paid automatically. The rate depends on your age at that point, not your age now, and once set it stays at that band.

Those are the bands on the government's 2026 rate chart, and they apply to most people. The order itself has extra conditions for older cases, including a lower cut-off age for women in the bottom band, so check your own award letter if you became unemployable in your 50s.

Anyone awarded Unemployability Supplement also gets Comforts Allowance automatically: £20.15 a week at the lower rate, or £40.30 if you also get Constant Attendance Allowance.

Unemployability Supplement and State Pension

There is no age at which an existing award ends. But it cannot be paid in full at the same time as State Pension. The overlapping benefits rules reduce State Pension, including the new State Pension, by the amount of the supplement, and the same applies to contributory Employment and Support Allowance and Carer's Allowance. Additional State Pension and Graduated Retirement Benefit are not affected.

Invalidity Allowance and the Comforts Allowance paid with the supplement depend on it, so if the supplement stops, they stop too. There is also the War Widow's or Widower's Pension link described below, which depends on the supplement being in payment when you die.

Tax and means-tested benefits

Unemployability Supplement is paid tax free with your War Pension. HMRC's guidance treats it, together with the additions for a partner and children, Invalidity Allowance and Comforts Allowance, as covered by the same exemption as the War Pension itself.

Universal Credit does not count it as income. Pension Credit and Housing Benefit do count it, apart from the £10 a week war pension disregard. Do not assume it is ignored for every means-tested benefit, because it is not. Our guide to War Pensions and means-tested benefits goes through each benefit.

The War Widow's or Widower's Pension link

This is the least-known consequence of the supplement. Under article 22(4) of the order, if you are assessed at 80% or more and Unemployability Supplement is payable up to your death, your death "shall be treated as due to service". That secures a War Widow's or Widower's Pension for your spouse or civil partner, whatever the cause of death.

Your surviving partner may also get a temporary allowance for 26 weeks after your death, normally at a higher weekly amount than the War Widow's Pension itself.

How to claim

Claim on form WPS0003UNSUPP, from gov.uk, and send it to Veterans UK by email ([email protected]) or by post to Veterans UK, War Pension Scheme, Tomlinson House, Norcross, Thornton-Cleveleys, FY5 3WP. If you cannot download or print the form, the Veterans UK helpline on 0808 1914 218 will send one. Our War Pension and AFCS contact page has the other routes.

Timing matters. If you return the form within three months of the date on your War Pension award letter, the supplement is normally paid from the date you claimed your pension. Otherwise it is normally paid from the date you asked for the form, or from the date Veterans UK received your completed claim.

An award can be reviewed if your circumstances change. You must tell Veterans UK if you start work, start getting another benefit, pension or allowance, or start vocational training.