The Ministry of Defence has raised contract default notices over two of the pension errors that have left hundreds of veterans repaying thousands of pounds.
Yet ministers say they do not hold a single figure for how much of the veterans’ debt has been written off.
The admissions came in written answers published on 9 November to SNP MP Dave Doogan, who asked how much historic Armed Forces Pension Scheme overpayment debt had been identified and written off over the past five years, and whether any of the cost had been recovered from the contractors responsible.
Defence minister Calvin Bailey replied: “The Department does not centrally hold a cumulative figure for all Armed Forces Pension Scheme overpayment debts written off.”
He confirmed that for two of the problems, linked to National Insurance abatement and state pension age, “contract default notices have been raised”. He added that “the underlying causes and attribution of responsibility remain subject to consideration between the relevant parties”.
For a third set of errors, on pensions shared after divorce, the MOD claimed damages from Sopra Steria, which runs the scheme’s administration. That claim, Mr Bailey said, “was addressed as part of a wider contract settlement at the end of 2025”. He did not say how much, if anything, was recovered.
For the veterans on the receiving end, the bills are already arriving. The MOD confirmed to the BBC in August that more than 1,000 retired service personnel were being pursued for debts. The largest group, 335 veterans, were overpaid a total of £5.1 million because of incorrect National Insurance calculations. At that point £304,000 had been paid back.
Royal Artillery veteran Ray Lawton, 70, was told he owed £8,000 after six years of overpayments. Days later his monthly military pension was cut from £550 to £365. Royal Navy veteran Andrew Thorburn, who served 36 years, was told he owed £26,438 and had his pension cut by about £650 a month.
The Forces Pension Society says the National Insurance error caused pension increases at state pension age to be applied twice, inflating pensions for years before anyone noticed. In October it said it was still seeing a rise in enquiries from members receiving overpayment letters from Equiniti, which makes the payments as a subcontractor to Sopra Steria.
Some of this began long before Labour took office. Mr Bailey said some historic errors pre-date the current contract, which began in 2020, and Sopra Steria told the BBC the errors “originated over a decade before” it took over. Treasury rules normally require public bodies to recover money paid in error, and veterans can ask the MOD to write debts off.
But Labour is the Government. This is Money reported that the MOD identified the overpayments in November 2024, months after Labour took office, and that veterans were told only this year. Ministers decide whether to pursue veterans in full, and they now tell Parliament they cannot say how much has been forgiven.
Former Conservative defence secretary Penny Mordaunt told the BBC: “While public bodies have a duty to recoup such costs if it makes financial sense to do so, no such assessment has been made in these cases.”
The MOD can count some things. On the same day, defence minister Lord Coaker told peers that tracing work had brought 11,201 previously unclaimed Armed Forces pensions into payment, worth about £29.4 million.
The questions for ministers follow from their own answers. If default notices have been raised against the contractor, why should veterans keep repaying in full while responsibility is settled? How much did the 2025 settlement with Sopra Steria recover? And how much veterans’ debt has been written off so far?
The MOD says further claims against contractors “will be considered on their individual circumstances”. Veterans repaying from their pensions are still waiting to hear whose mistake it was.
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