Ulster Defence Regiment: Workplace Pensions
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons part-time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment were not eligible for a pension under the terms of service at the time of their employment; and whether the Department has made any assessment of options for retrospective recognition or provision.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones
Full time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) had an automatic entitlement to become members of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS). Part-time members of the UDR were engaged under different terms to full- time, regular members of the Regiment and were not part of the AFPS. These terms were similar to those of the Territorial Army and reflected that part-time engagements were often on an irregular, intermittent and short-term basis.
The Ministry of Defence values greatly the contribution of all those who served within the UDR, but there are no plans to review the pension entitlement for part-time members.
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