How is the AFPS 15 pension worked out?

Each year adds 1/47th of that year's pensionable pay. It is revalued each year in line with average weekly earnings while you serve, and in line with prices after you leave. A service person on £40,000 adds about £851 a year of pension for each year served.

When is my AFPS 15 pension paid?

Straight away if you leave at 60 or over. If you leave earlier, it is a deferred pension paid from your State Pension age, or from 55 at a reduced rate. Leaving at 40 or over with 20 years' service also brings an Early Departure Payment until State Pension age.

How much tax-free cash can I take from AFPS 15?

The commutation rate is fixed at 12 to 1: you can give up £1 a year of pension for £12 of tax-free cash, up to about 4.3 times the pension, which leaves about 64% of it as income.

Armed Forces pension calculator: AFPS 15 in today's money

What your Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2015 pension could be in today's money: paid at 60 if you serve until then, or from your State Pension age if you leave earlier, from the pension on your annual benefit statement, your pay and the years you still have to serve, with the tax-free cash it could buy. Then add it to your plan in one step. Your figures never leave your browser.

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Worked example

Computed when this page was built by the same engine that runs the calculator above, so the figures below and the live tool can never disagree. Change any input above to see your own.

Inputs
Age	40
Pension built up so far	£6,000 a year
Pensionable pay	£38,000
Pay rises	2.5% a year (inflation 2.5%)

Results
Pension at 60, today's money	£22,170 a year
Of which still to be earned	£16,170
Revaluation above inflation	£0
Tax-free cash, at most	£95,015, leaving £14,252 a year

The next question

When does taking it early break even? →Defined benefit early retirement calculator

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How it builds up

Each year your pension grows by 1/47th of your pensionable pay. While you serve, everything built up so far is revalued each year in line with the Average Weekly Earnings index: when earnings grow faster than prices it grows in today's money too. The calculator asks how fast you expect earnings to grow, and starts cautiously at the same rate as prices. After you leave it is increased in line with prices alone.

When it is paid

If you leave at 60 or over, the pension is paid straight away. If you leave earlier it is a deferred pension, paid from your State Pension age, or earlier at a reduced rate. Leaving at 40 or over with at least 20 years' service also brings an Early Departure Payment, an income and lump sum until State Pension age, which this calculator does not work out.

Taking it early, and tax-free cash

The minimum pension age is 55, rising to 57 on 6 April 2028 except for members with a protected pension age: those who, before 4 November 2021, had the right to take their pension at 55. A deferred pension taken before State Pension age is reduced for each year early, for life; the calculator uses one rate a year as an estimate. The commutation rate is fixed at 12 to 1: you can give up £1 a year of pension for £12 of tax-free cash, up to the most the tax rules allow, about 4.3 times the pension, which leaves about 64% of it as income.

If you were in AFPS 75 or AFPS 05

If you were in AFPS 75 or AFPS 05 on 31 March 2012 and served between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022, the McCloud remedy lets you choose which scheme's benefits to have for that period. Your statement is the authority; this calculator covers AFPS 15 benefits only.

Into your plan

One pension is only part of the picture. Add this pension to my plan opens Hundred Summers with it ready to add, in today's money from the age you choose, to be projected with your State Pension, savings, spending and tax year by year. The defined benefit early retirement calculator shows when taking it early breaks even, and the tax-free lump sum calculator what the cash costs in income.

Education, not advice. An estimate in today's money from the scheme's published rules, before tax: it leaves out added pension, partial and late retirement, and the scheme's exact early retirement factors. Your annual benefit statement and the scheme's own guidance are the authority. For a personal recommendation speak to an FCA-regulated financial adviser; free guidance is available from MoneyHelper.

Sources

Ministry of Defence, Service leavers' guide (AFPS 15).
Veterans UK, Understanding your armed forces pension.
HM Treasury, Public service pension reforms (normal pension ages).
GOV.UK, State Pension age; HMRC, Increasing normal minimum pension age; HMRC, PTM063240: the pension commencement lump sum's permitted maximum.