The Armed Forces Early Departure Payments Scheme Regulations 2014

Lump sum awards: incapacity for armed forces service

19.—(1) A person who ceases to be in service as a member of the armed forces is entitled to immediate payment of a lump sum if—

(a) in the opinion of the scheme manager the person will continue to be unfit for service as a member of the armed forces because of physical or mental impairment; and

(b) the scheme manager has received evidence from a registered medical practitioner that the person is unfit for the purposes of sub-paragraph (a); and

(c) the person has at least 2 years’ qualifying service; and

(d) immediately before the service ceases the person was an active member of the AFPS 14; and

(e) the person is not entitled to payments under either—

(i) regulation 9 (entitlement to early departure payments), where the scheme manager determines that payment should be made instead of a payment under this regulation, or

(ii) the immediate payment of a pension under-

(aa) regulation 43 (retirement on or after reaching normal pension age-active members) of the AFPS 14, or

(bb) regulation 51 (entitlement to ill-health pension: active members with permanent serious ill-health) of the AFPS 14, or

(cc) regulation 52 (entitlement to ill-health pension: active members with significant impairment of capacity for gainful employment) of the AFPS 14, or

(dd) regulation 60 (option for members in serious ill-health to exchange whole pension for lump sum) of the AFPS 14.

(2) The following periods do not constitute qualifying service for the purposes of this regulation—

(a) any pensionable service in respect of which a person’s rights under the AFPS 14 are extinguished, or

(b) any pensionable service in a connected scheme in respect of which the person’s rights under that scheme are extinguished.