Life insurance for retired military personnel comes from two places: the death benefits of your Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS) membership, which carry on after you leave in a different form, and any private policy you buy, which an insurer assesses like any other application. The death in service lump sum ends when you leave, and what stands in its place depends on which scheme you were in and whether your pension is deferred or already being paid.
Private cover is the part you can still shape. A broker authorised by the FCA can explain what insurers may be willing to consider for someone with your service and health history. The route is this page's form, which is free to use.
Does military life insurance continue after retirement?
Not as a policy. Serving personnel do not hold an insurance contract with the Ministry of Defence (MOD); they are members of a pension scheme, and its death benefits change as your status changes. While you serve, the scheme pays a lump sum and a partner's pension, as set out in armed forces death in service benefit. After you leave, benefits still exist, but they are worked out differently. Searches for military life insurance after retirement also turn up American programmes, which do not apply to UK service.
Which stage applies depends on when you left. The AFPS 15 guide (May 2023) says "If you leave the Service before age 60 (normal pension age), you will become a deferred member and will be entitled to a deferred pension paid at State Pension Age." It adds the condition that "You will only be entitled to receive a deferred pension if you have completed at least 2 years of qualifying service, or if you have transferred a pension from another pension scheme into AFPS 15." Under AFPS 15, leaving at 60 or over brings an immediate pension instead; AFPS 05 and AFPS 1975 set their own ages in their guides.
How do the three pension schemes treat a death after you have left?
The guides split this into death in deferment (you left with a deferred pension that had not started) and death in retirement (your pension was in payment). The table summarises the three schemes' guides: AFPS 15 (May 2023), AFPS 05 (July 2020) and AFPS 1975 (July 2020).
| Stage | AFPS 15 | AFPS 05 | AFPS 1975 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deferred pension not yet paid | Partner's pension of 62.5% of your deferred pension; lump sum of 3 times the deferred pension | Partner's pension of 62.5% of the pension you would have received; the deferred pension lump sum | Spouse's or civil partner's long-term pension of one half of your pension (one third for earlier service); lump sum of 3 times the annual pension |
| Pension already in payment | Partner's pension of 62.5%; lump sum of 5 years of pension, only if death is within 5 years of drawing it | Partner's pension of 62.5%; lump sum of 5 years of pension if death is within 5 years of the pension starting | Spouse's or civil partner's short-term pension for 91 or 182 days, then the long-term pension; lump sum only if death is within one year of your last day of pensionable service |
The AFPS 15 guide says the partner's benefit is paid for life and the lump sums are tax-free, and that the deferment lump sum goes to your nominee, your spouse, civil partner or eligible partner, or your personal representative. The lump sum on death in retirement is reduced by anything you have already received. The AFPS 15 and AFPS 05 guides add that the deferment benefits are also paid if you were receiving an Early Departure Payment (EDP) when you died. The guide also says "Dependants’ pensions are only payable if you have completed at least 2 years of qualifying service", and that a partner more than 12 years younger than you gets a reduced pension.
If you have no partner or eligible children, the AFPS 15 guide says the deferment lump sum goes to your nominee or estate. Eligible children can receive pensions too, subject to age, education and dependency conditions that each scheme guide sets out.
These are scheme rules rather than insurance, so nothing needs to be bought or renewed, but they follow fixed formulas. The guide to the oldest scheme adds that if death is attributable to service, other benefits may also be available; the death in service guide linked earlier covers those.
Who receives the money, and how is it claimed?
It is not automatic. The AFPS 15 guide says "The payment of the pension and lump sum is not automatic and is claimed by contacting DBS Veterans UK." The Veterans UK factsheet for Pension Awareness Week 2026 gives the freephone number 0800 085 3600 for families to have the service and pension record checked.
Two points from the same factsheet often surprise people. "A nomination does not decide who qualifies for a spouse or partner pension", because those benefits follow scheme rules; a nomination matters for the lump sum. And for an unmarried partner under AFPS 05 and 15, "Living together alone should not be assumed to guarantee entitlement." Where a member has benefits in more than one AFPS scheme, the factsheet says each part is assessed under its own scheme rules.
For the practical steps after a death, the factsheet points to GOV.UK's guidance What to do when a veteran dies. A private policy is a separate matter: it pays whoever the policy names, or the trustees if it is written in trust, as what a life insurance trust is explains.
Can you buy life insurance after leaving the forces?
Insurers' published underwriting pages for the forces are mostly written around people who are serving. Legal & General's adviser page (undated, read 26 October 2026) requires an armed forces questionnaire from service personnel, and puts retired clients in its occupation class H; its table says occupation does not affect life cover premiums unless it has a hazardous element. Scottish Widows' adviser page (undated, read 26 October 2026) says "We can’t accept any business if the person applying is currently serving in, or under orders to go to a theatre of operations within 12 months." That sentence is written about current service. How either insurer would see a career that has ended is something a broker can put to them for you.
For people who are serving, both insurers apply an armed forces exclusion to critical illness cover. Scottish Widows words its exclusion as no payment "for any claim arising as a result of any event occurring while the person covered is undertaking duties on behalf of, or during service with, the British Armed Forces or any other militia in an active theatre of operations or conflict". Legal & General's refers to injury arising during a tour of duty to an active theatre of operations or conflict. Both are worded around events during duties, and Scottish Widows says its exclusion applies for the length of the cover, which matters if you bought a policy while serving; the policy wording you are offered is what governs.
If you bought a policy while serving, Legal & General's adviser page says clients generally do not need to report later changes of occupation on current policies, though some older policies do require it, so check the terms. That is one insurer's position. The MOD's premium refund is for serving personnel, as life insurance for serving military personnel explains, so ask your insurer about any loading added for forces duties.
For what happens to cover as you stop working, see what happens to life insurance when you retire. Life insurance over 50 and whole of life insurance are separate products with their own terms.
How do insurers treat health conditions linked to service?
Insurers ask about health, not about whether a condition began in service. Aviva's high-risk life insurance guide (6 May 2026) says each insurer treats health conditions in its own way, and that "if your condition is well managed, or you’ve fully recovered, you may not be treated as higher risk at all."
On mental health, Legal & General's guide (11 November 2025) lists Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among its examples and says "Having a mental health problem does not in itself mean you can't get life insurance, and L&G will consider all reasonable applications." It also says "there are circumstances where your mental health would affect your life insurance eligibility; for example, we're unable to cover you where there has been a recent increase in the severity of your condition." It asks for details such as the date of diagnosis, specialist referrals, symptoms and medication. Our guide to life insurance with mental health issues goes further.
Answer accurately. Legal & General's guide says it "can refuse to pay out following a claim if it is found that the information you supplied was not accurate or was incomplete". How a hearing problem or an injury from service would be rated is for each insurer's underwriters, and a broker can put it to the insurers they work with.
Age at retirement can matter to the questions. Aviva's adviser application form (AL55001 08/2026) tells those who are retired and aged 50 or under to "confirm when you retired, whether your health influenced your retirement, and if so, please tell us about the medical condition", while those retired and over 50 are told to move on to the next section. This is adviser material and other insurers' forms differ. See also life insurance with medical conditions and medical questions for life insurance.
What should a retired serviceperson and their partner weigh up?
Scheme benefits and a private policy do different jobs. The scheme pays a partner's pension for life, with lump sums that depend on your stage of retirement; a term policy pays a lump sum only if you die within its term, and a whole of life policy has no end date. A partner who wants cover of their own would make a separate application, or you could look at joint life insurance. For the wider context of later life, see over-50s and later life.
Whichever scheme you were in, a broker can talk through which kinds of private cover might sit alongside it. Our form takes a name, age band, phone, email and postcode, and the broker rings you to take it from there at no charge.
Frequently asked questions
Do retired military get life insurance?
Not as a free policy. Retired personnel keep pension death benefits for a partner and any eligible children, which depend on their scheme and whether their pension had started. Private life insurance is a separate purchase that an insurer decides on.
Can I get life insurance with PTSD from service?
Legal & General says it considers all reasonable applications from people with a mental health problem. Other insurers differ and the details count, so a broker can talk your own history through when they ring, free of charge.
Sources
- Ministry of Defence, The Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2015: Your Pension Scheme Explained (May 2023), read 26 October 2026. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
- Ministry of Defence, AFPS 2005: Your Pension Scheme Explained (July 2020), read 26 October 2026. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
- Veterans UK, Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975: Your Pension Scheme Explained (July 2020), read 26 October 2026. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
- Veterans UK, Armed Forces Pension Death & Survivor Benefits factsheet (Pension Awareness Week 2026), read 26 October 2026. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
- Legal & General, Occupation and armed forces (adviser protection site, undated), read 26 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com/adviser
- Legal & General, How does a mental health condition affect life insurance? (11 November 2025), read 26 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
- Scottish Widows, Protection Underwriting, Armed Forces section (adviser site, undated), read 26 October 2026. adviser.scottishwidows.co.uk
- Aviva, High risk life insurance (6 May 2026), read 26 October 2026. aviva.co.uk
- Aviva, Personal protection application (AL55001 08/2026, adviser document), read 26 October 2026. aviva.co.uk (AL55001)