The Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions Order 2006

Temporary allowances U.K.

27.—(1) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this Order, where a member of the armed forces died or dies on or after 2nd December 1963 and—

(a) F1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(b) in respect of any period ending with his death there was payable to him either—

(i) an allowance under article 8 or 12(1)(a), or

(ii) although concurrently eligible for an allowance under article 12(1)(a), an allowance under article 15; or

(c) an allowance under article 8 ceased to be payable within 13 weeks of his death following his entry as an inpatient into a hospital or other institution

his surviving spouse or surviving civil partner or dependant who lived as his spouse or F2 ... civil partner (“dependant”) may be awarded a personal allowance and, in respect of children, additional allowances in accordance with the following provisions of this article.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1), a member of the armed forces shall be treated as if he was in receipt of an allowance under article 12(1)(a) if—

(a) at the time of his death subparagraphs (b), (c) and (f) of article 12(3) applied to him; and

(b) the period of remunerative work had not exceeded a period of 52 weeks.

(3) A personal allowance awarded under this article to a surviving spouse or surviving civil partner shall be payable—

[F3 (a) for the period of 26 weeks commencing on the relevant day; and]

(b) at a weekly rate equal to the total amount of the retired pay, pension, alternative retired pay or pension or treatment allowances and any other allowances payable to the member under this Order or by virtue of a grant under a 1919 to 1921 instrument in respect of the 7 days next preceding the day of his death, with the exception of allowances under article 11 or 12(6) (a) or a mobility supplement under article 20 or any allowance in respect of a child; but

(c) a personal allowance under this paragraph shall be subject to article 33(1) as if it were a pension under article 23 and shall not be payable for any period after the death of the surviving spouse or surviving civil partner; and

(d) in calculating the weekly rate of retired pay, pension or allowances for the purposes of the foregoing provisions of this article—

(i) a member who was in receipt of an award under Part V of the Service Pensions Order 1983 which was treated by article 33(2)(d)(i) of that Order as being made under article 10 of that Order shall be treated instead to have been in receipt of an award under article 6 of this Order,

(ii) an officer who was in receipt of an award under any paragraph of the proviso to article 1 of a 1920 to 1921 instrument shall be treated instead to have been in receipt of an award under article 1 of that instrument without reference to that proviso,

(iii) as regards a member (whether or not an officer), no account shall be taken of any pension awarded in respect of service or rank (or both) for which the member was eligible under the principal Naval Regulations, the Pensions Warrant or the principal Air Force Regulations or under any Order in Council, Royal Warrant or Order relating to service before 3rd September 1939, and

(iv) a member who, being concurrently eligible for an allowance under article 12(1)(a), was in receipt of an allowance under article 15 shall be treated instead to have been in receipt of an allowance under article 12(1)(a).

(4) A dependant of a member whose death is due to service and who, at the date of his death, had a child of his in charge may be awarded a personal allowance under this article as if he or, as the case may be, she were the surviving spouse or surviving civil partner of the member, but such an award shall be subject to the following conditions—

(a) the rate of the allowance payable to the dependant—

(i) shall be at the discretion of the Secretary of State, but

(ii) shall not in any case exceed the rate which, if the dependant were the member's surviving spouse or surviving civil partner, would be appropriate under paragraph (3); and

(b) the allowance shall not be payable for any period after the child ceases to be in the dependant's charge.

(5) Where the surviving spouse, surviving civil partner or dependant is awarded a personal allowance under this article, an additional allowance may be awarded in respect of any child for whom an allowance was payable to the member immediately before his death, and any such additional allowance shall be payable at the weekly rate at which the allowance or allowances for that child was or were payable to the member in respect of the 7 days next preceding the day of his death—

(a) for so long as the personal allowance is payable and the child is alive and has not attained the child's age limit; or

(b) if he has attained that limit, is a student or an apprentice; or

(c) is incapable of self-support by reason of an infirmity which arose before he attained that limit; and

in each case the circumstances are such as to justify the continuance of the award.

(6) As respect any payments made to a person under this article for any period for which any pension or allowance (other than an allowance under this article) or grant might, but for the provisions of this paragraph, be awarded to that person under this Part of this Order—

(a) where the aggregate amount of such payments is equal to, or exceeds, the aggregate amount of such pension, allowance or grant, no award of such pension allowance or grant shall be made;

(b) where the aggregate amount of such payments is less than the aggregate amount of such pension, allowance or grant, the pension, allowance or grant may be awarded and the payments shall be treated as paid on account thereof.

(7) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this article, the Secretary of State may, if in his opinion the exceptional circumstances of any particular case so require, at his discretion—

(a) vary the conditions for the award of a personal allowance in so far as they related to a period in respect of which an allowance under article 8 or article 12(1)(a) is required to have been payable;

(b) award a personal allowance or an additional allowance for any week at a weekly rate other than that prescribed in paragraph (3)(b) or, as the case may be, paragraph (5), but not exceeding the maximum rate which would have been payable in accordance with that subparagraph had the member died at any time not earlier than 13 weeks before the date of his death.

[F4 (8) In this article, “relevant day” means—

(a) in the case of the surviving spouse or surviving civil partner of an officer, the day after the day of the officer’s death;

(b) in the case of the surviving spouse or surviving civil partner of any other member—

(i) where the member died before 8th April 2019, the Wednesday next following the day of the member’s death;

(ii) where the member died on or after 8th April 2019, the day after the day of the member’s death.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Art. 27(1)(a) omitted (7.4.2008 with application in accordance with art. 2(3) of the amending S.I.) by virtue of The Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions (Amendment) Order 2008 (S.I. 2008/679), art. 2(1)(2)(a), Sch. 1 Pt. 1 para. 3

F2 Words in art. 27(1) omitted (2.12.2019) by virtue of The Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1458), reg. 1(2), Sch. 3 para. 110(6)

F3 Art. 27(3)(a) substituted (8.4.2019) by The Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions (Amendment) Order 2019 (S.I. 2019/186), arts. 1, 3(a)

F4 Art. 27(8) inserted (8.4.2019) by The Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions (Amendment) Order 2019 (S.I. 2019/186), arts. 1, 3(b)