What you need to know

It is important that you have read and understood the following JSPs before proceeding:

If you have built up pension benefits elsewhere before joining the Armed Forces you have the option to transfer in the value of your other benefits to receive a service credit in your Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS).

You must be serving in the Armed Forces to be eligible to transfer in and once you have committed yourself to a transfer from your previous pension scheme, you cannot change your mind and you will have given up forever your rights and those of your dependants under the previous schemes.

Transfers into AFPS 15 must be completed within one year of joining the scheme. For members who remain solely in AFPS 75 and AFPS 05 who may still make transfers in from a non-public service scheme. AFSP 75 the transfer in must be made before your 54 birthday and in AFPS 05 the transfer in must be made before the beginning of your final year of service before your pension is due.

If you leave without receiving immediate pension benefits (including leaving with an Early Departure Payment (EDP) under AFPS 15 or AFPS 05) you have the option to transfer the value of your deferred pension benefits to other defined benefit schemes. A pension in payment cannot be transferred.

Before you apply to for a transfer in, you need to obtain details of the amount of your transfer value from your previous pension scheme, and then an estimate from DBS Veterans UK of the additional pension that this will buy. However, the government has prevented transfers from unfunded public service defined benefit schemes (such as the AFPS) to funded defined contribution schemes in UK or abroad.

What you need to do

Application for pension transfers should be made in writing to:

DBS Veterans UK Pensions Division
Mail Point 480
Kentigern House
65 Brown Street
Glasgow
G2 8EX