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

Unemployability allowances U.K.

12.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this article, where a member of the armed forces is in receipt of retired pay or a pension in respect of disablement so serious as to make him unemployable, he shall be awarded unemployability allowances, being—

(a) a personal unemployability allowance at the appropriate rate specified in paragraph 5(a) of Part IV of Schedule 1; and

(b) additional unemployability allowances for dependants in accordance with such of the provisions of paragraph (6) as may be appropriate in his case.

(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in the case of a member who submits a new claim for an allowance under this article—

(a) on or after the date on which he attains the age of 65; or

(b) where the degree of disablement is assessed at less than 60 per cent.

unless paragraph (3) applies.

(3) If the member—

(a) was in receipt of a personal unemployability allowance before 7th April 1997;

(b) became engaged in remunerative work on or after 8th April 2002 and in consequence ceased to be entitled to a personal unemployability allowance;

(c) had given notice to the Secretary of State that he had become engaged in remunerative work within one week of ceasing to be entitled to that allowance;

(d) then ceased to be engaged in remunerative work;

(e) makes a new claim for a personal unemployability allowance within [F1 104] weeks of the termination of the original payment of that allowance; and

(f) was not engaged in a previous period of remunerative work within 28 weeks of the date subparagraph (b) applied to him

then paragraph (1) shall continue to apply to that new claim subject to the degree of disablement being assessed at not less than 20 per cent.

(4) For the purposes of this article, subject to paragraph (5), a member may be treated as unemployable although in receipt of therapeutic earnings which are, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, unlikely to exceed per year the figure specified in paragraph 5 (c) of Part IV of Schedule 1.

(5) Where, before 9th April 2001, a member was in receipt of therapeutic earnings immediately before that date, any such earnings he receives on and after that date shall constitute therapeutic earnings for the purpose of paragraph (4) until the member ceases permanently to do the work in respect of which they are received.

(6) Where a member is awarded a personal unemployability allowance, he may also be awarded additional unemployability allowances for dependants as follows—

(a) subject to paragraph (7), an additional unemployability allowance [F2 in respect of a spouse, civil partner, adult dependant [F3 or dependant living as a spouse or] civil partner] at a rate not exceeding the appropriate rate specified in paragraph 5(b)(i) of Part IV of Schedule 1 if—

(i) the person in respect of whom the allowance is claimed has a weekly income which does not exceed the figure specified in paragraph 5(d) of Part IV of Schedule 1, and

(ii) the Secretary of State thinks fit to award the allowance, having regard to that person's financial circumstances (including any earnings, occupational pension and social security benefits the person receives);

(b) subject to paragraphs (8) and (9), an additional allowance in respect of any child of the member at the appropriate rate specified in paragraph 5(b)(ii) of Part IV of Schedule 1;

(c) where a child is not a child of the member, but in the opinion of the Secretary of State, having regard to the child's relationship to or connection with the member and the other circumstances of the case, the child should be treated as his child for the purposes of subparagraph (b), that child shall be so treated for those purposes.

(7) An additional allowance shall not be awarded in respect of more than one adult dependant.

(8) No award of an additional allowance shall be made or continued or shall continue to have effect in respect of a child who has attained the child's age limit, unless he is—

(a) a student or an apprentice; or

(b) incapable of self-support by reason of an infirmity which arose before he attained the child's age limit

and in either case the circumstances are, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, such as to justify the award or its continuance.

(9) For the purposes of paragraph (6)(b) and (c), an award, continuance and amount of an additional allowance under that paragraph in respect of a child who is living apart from the member shall be at the discretion of the Secretary of State.

(10) Where—

(a) a person to whom a personal allowance may be or has been awarded under the foregoing provisions of this article is eligible for—

(i) a category A or B retirement pension, as provided for by regulation 18 of the Social Security (Widow's Benefit, Retirement Pensions and Other Benefits) Transitional Regulations 1979, or by corresponding regulations made in Northern Ireland, or

(ii) a widow's pension under Part II of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, or the corresponding provisions of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Contributions and Benefits Act 1992; or

[F4 (iii) a state pension under Part 1 of the Pensions Act 2014; or]

(b) a person to or in respect of whom a personal allowance or an additional allowance may be or has been so awarded is eligible for benefit payable out of public funds under the law of any place outside the United Kingdom being benefit which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, is analogous to benefit under Chapters I or II of Part II of the Social Security Act 1975

the Secretary of State may take into account any pension referred to in subparagraph (a) against the personal allowance and any benefit referred to in subparagraph (b) against the personal allowance and the additional allowance in such manner and to such extent as he may think appropriate having regard, in the case of such benefit, to any adjustment which would be made if the person were eligible for the analogous benefit under Chapters I or II of Part II of the Social Security Act 1975.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in art. 12(3)(e) substituted (9.4.2007) by The Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions (Amendment) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/909), arts. 1(1), 2, Sch. 1 para. 1

F2 Words in art. 12(6)(a) substituted (9.4.2012) by The Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions (Amendment) Order 2012 (S.I. 2012/359), arts. 1, 3

F3 Words in art. 12(6)(a) substituted (2.12.2019) by The Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1458), reg. 1(2), Sch. 3 para. 110(3)

F4 Art. 12(10)(a)(iii) inserted (11.4.2016) by The Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions (Amendment) Order 2016 (S.I. 2016/374), arts. 1(1), 3