The Nation’s Commitment: Cross-Government Support to our Armed Forces, their Families and Veterans
The Government is committed to end any disadvantage that armed service causes for our service personnel and their service families. This commitment was set out in the Government Command Paper The Nation’s Commitment: Cross-Government Support to our Armed Forces, their Families and Veterans (Cm 7424) published in July 2008 (MoD website).
The principal DWP commitment is that family dependents of service personnel should not be put at a disadvantage when claiming benefits and allowances just because they are members of a service family.
For example, spouses and civil partners of service personnel posted overseas may have difficulty finding work and paying National Insurance (NI) contributions. This may affect their entitlement to some state benefits, such as Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and the basic State Pension.
To ensure they are not put at a disadvantage when claiming benefits, the Government is considering awarding Class 1 National Insurance (NI) credits to spouses and civil partners of service personnel posted overseas.
DWP factsheet Access to contributory state benefits for spouses and civil partners of members of the armed forces (60KB)
