As defined within primary legislation, Armed Forces pension awards reflect the actual time served. In 2000, a member would have served 16 years as an Officer or 22 years as an Other Rank to qualify for the immediate payment of a pension on discharge, and those who served at least two years would be entitled to receive a deferred pension, payable at age 60 for service between 1975 and April 2006. Circumstances of dismissal relate to terms and conditions of employment and not the provisions of the Armed Forces Pension Schemes, meaning that Service personnel dismissed or discharged in respect of their sexuality retained their accrued pension rights.<\/p>
In the early 2000's, the Ministry of Defence settled a number of claims from former members of the Armed Forces who had been dismissed for being LGBTQ. The compensation awarded to claimants consisted of damages for loss of earnings, loss of pension and injury to feelings. These claims were reported in the national press at the time of settlement. However, upon completion of the Lord Etherton PC Kt QC independent review into the impact of Defence's historic policy on homosexuality, the Government will carefully consider the recommendations and decide what action to take.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4306", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Goldie"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Baroness Goldie"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-11-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-11-09T12:07:11.553Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "11"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Defence"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Defence"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-10-26", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Armed Forces: Homosexuality"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Goldie on 25 October (HL2691), what steps they are taking to provide compensation for pension losses caused to members of the armed forces who were discharged or dismissed solely on grounds of sexual orientation before 2000, and who would otherwise have been able to serve until reaching their immediate pension point or to the point of full career retirement.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4202", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Lexden"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Lexden"} ], "uin" : "HL2926"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }