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Life and Personal Accident Insurance and AFPS Declaration Forms

It is a condition of Service for all Service personnel to review their financial position and complete a life and personal accident insurance declaration form (Ins & AFPS Form 001), ensuring that their Emergency Contact/Next of Kin information on JPA is accurate.

Personnel should also consider completing the AFPS 05/15 and RFPS 05 Death in Service lump sum nomination form (AFPS Form 2).

Background 

After the Gulf War, the House of Commons Defence Select Committee (HCDSC) recommended that the MOD ensure Service personnel have access to the required level of life and personal accident insurance cover whilst on operations. They should also be made aware of the requirement to ensure that they have sufficient insurance cover to meet their needs. MOD has a duty of care to oversee this recommendation: to achieve this a declaration form (Ins & AFPS Form 001) was introduced.

Purpose of the Declaration

All Service personnel are required, as a condition of Service, to sign a declaration form when they commence Phase One Training, during pre-deployment preparations, and when they arrive at unit. Reserves will also be required to sign a new form on re-engagement. 

Life and personal accident insurance cover complements the Armed Forces Pension and Compensation provisions already available to Service personnel and is optional. It is for the individual to decide whether they wish to enhance their protection by taking out life or personal accident insurance cover. However, Service personnel, particularly those with dependants, should regularly consider their financial position as to whether the insurance cover they have is sufficient to meet their personal circumstances, especially when changes have occurred, for example getting married or having children. If Service personnel are unsure, they may consider discussing their needs with an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA). A list of IFAs with particular expertise in Service matters is available through the Services Insurance and Investment Advisory Panel (SIIAP) website – https://siiap.org.

Service personnel who are members of AFPS05, AFPS15 or RFPS05 should give due consideration to completing the Armed Forces Pension (AFPS) Death in Service lump sum benefit nomination form (AFPS form 2). Under these schemes, Service personnel are entitled, if they so wish, to nominate their spouse, civil partner or eligible partner ensuring that the nominee is also an existing contact on JPA (this is to avoid any delays or mistakes in payment in the event of their death). Alternatively, Service personnel can nominate an organisation or someone else of their choice to receive their AFPS death in service lump sum benefit. In both circumstances Service personnel are to ensure nominations remain relevant, particularly if personal circumstances change. Further information about death in service benefits can be found in the relevant pension scheme booklets on the gov.uk Armed Forces Pensions website page.

Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulations forbid MOD from recommending any one insurance product. The declaration form does not therefore mention any specific product, but by signing it personnel are demonstrating that they have considered the need to take out life and/or personal accident insurance cover and know how to obtain such cover. 

Further information

Further information is available on the Armed Forces Pensions site.

This is an extract from Defence Internal Notice 2021-DIN-01-062 (internal users only).