Hundreds of retired service personnel are having their military pensions cut after letters arrived demanding repayment of money they were overpaid years ago, because of what the Ministry of Defence now confirms was clerical error. The BBC reports that more than 1,000 former UK service personnel are being pursued for debts, with the largest identified group, 335 veterans, overpaid a combined £5.1m through incorrect National Insurance calculations.
The numbers behind individual cases are brutal in their smallness. Ray Lawton, 70, a Royal Artillery veteran from Portsmouth, was told in July he owed £8,000 after six years of overpayments; days later his monthly pension fell from £550 to £365. Andrew Thorburn, who served 36 years in the Royal Navy, was told he owes £26,438, with roughly £650 a month deducted from his pension. Barrie Goodwin, an RAF veteran, is chasing back £32,188 after flagging a higher payment himself years ago and being told it was correct. The Forces Pension Society says a small number of veterans owe six-figure sums.
The MoD has confirmed errors touching National Insurance adjustments, Pension Sharing Orders, Early Departure Payments and State Pension Age. Of the 335 National Insurance cases, a third have repaid in full, 52 have repayment plans, and £304,000 of the £5.1m has come back. The letters come from Equiniti, which administers the scheme under a contract held by the technology firm Sopra Steria since 2023; Sopra Steria says the errors originated more than a decade before it took over.
The government line is that it must recover funds paid in error. Former defence secretary Penny Mordaunt has argued there is a compelling case in many instances to wipe the debt, and that no financial-sense assessment was made. Both positions are defensible, which is precisely the problem: the recovery decision sits with administrators, while the hardship lands on people on fixed incomes.
For anyone advising veterans, the Forces Pension Society’s guidance is concrete: verify the letter, demand the calculation, and use the Internal Disputes Procedure. Some debts have been wiped after formal complaints.