Money
Pensions
Ex-servicemen battle for their pensions
Pensioners are campaigning for the Government to award an estimated 65,000 ex-servicemen and women who served their country equal rights to a state pension, writes Holly Thomas
The Armed Forces Pension Group (AFPG) is hoping to force the current policy to be scrapped with the help of a petition soon to be presented at Downing Street.
At the moment, those who were in the armed forces between 1949 and April 1975, but served less than 22 years are not eligible for any pension from the state.
The aim is that the petition will eventually be presented by the group to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in an attempt to negotiate pension rights or compensation for those that have missed out.
A spokesman for the AFPG said: "The efforts on the petition are fantastic as we have topped 88,000 signatures of support. But we need more support to get that number up to 100,000.
"The petition will not close until the political climate is stable that when we present it to Number 10 we will gain maximum impact. We are a special case and demand to be considered as such."
The AFPG's active membership is more than 2,000.
Saga reader John Dell from Shawforth, Lancashire served in the Royal Air Force in the Middle East and Northern Ireland for seven years between 1956 and 1963.
He said: "We shouldn't be having to campaign for this, but I hope that our efforts will make the government reconsider."
Mr Dell, 70, said he was not aware that he was affected by this rule until he read a recent article in Saga Magazine, and has since become a member of the AFPG.
On Remembrance Day, November 11, many members will be out and about collecting more signatures.
Mr Dell said: "I hope that anyone who thinks that they've been affected will sign the petition."
The plight of the AFPG members has been long and so far fallen on deaf ears.
In April this year the AFPG organised a demonstration in Westminster, to highlight their campaign.
An early day motion saw 207 MPs sign to say all ex-Armed Forces personnel should receive a pension.
Membership of the AFPG is open to all ex-servicemen and women who served for three years or more, but less than 22 years, and were discharged prior to April 5 1975.
* Visit: www.afpg.info
