Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and War Pensions
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how long on average it takes for applications to be completed for a) the War Pension Scheme and b) the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) publishes annual statistics for the War Pension Scheme (WPS) and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) on the GOV.UK website.
The following tables show the average and median clearance times for applications/appeals to be completed under the WPS and AFCS for financial year 2024-25. Clearance times refer to the number of working days between when the MOD received a claim and when the claim was finalised and the decision notified.
WPS Accredited Official Statistic for the 2024-25 financial year:
WPS Claim type | Median processing time (working days) | Average (mean) processing time (working days) |
First claims | 200 | 198 |
Second/subsequent claims | 194 | 200 |
Widow(er)s’ claims | 59 | 61 |
Appeals | 156 | 255 |
Data for 2025/26 will be published in the WPS Accredited Official Statistic on 2 July 2026 at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/war-pension-recipients-index
AFCS Accredited Official Statistic for the 2024-25 financial year:
AFCS claim type | Median processing time (working days) | Average (mean) processing time (working days) |
Injury/Illness claims | 122 | 152 |
Survivors’ claims | 178 | 235 |
Reconsiderations | 118 | 122 |
Appeals | 315 | 416 |
Data for 2025-26 is currently scheduled for publication in the AFCS Accredited Official Statistic in Autumn 2026 and will be available at the following link:
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