The scheme compensates for any injury, illness or death which was caused by service on or after 6 April 2005.

This includes when you are acting on orders, responding to a service-related emergency, are on operations or exercises, during training, or undertaking service-approved sport or specified activities to maintain your fitness. It does not include injuries incurred at a social event, whilst travelling to and from work, whilst undertaking sport which is not formally recognised or not had prior approval, and the majority of slips, trips and falls, since such injuries are not considered as having been caused (wholly or predominantly ) by service.

There are 2 main types of awards under the scheme.

The first is a tax-free lump sum payment for pain and suffering. The amount you will receive depends on the nature and severity of your injury, which will be assessed against a series of tables, known as the tariff. The tariff system has 15 levels, with level 1 being the most severe and level 15 being the least severe. For more severe injuries, you will also receive a Guaranteed Income Payment (GIP). This is a tax free, monthly payment, designed to compensate for the loss of future earnings and starts on the day you leave the Armed Forces. The amount you receive will depend on your age at last birthday, basic salary (minus allowances) at the time of leaving service, as well as how severe your injuries are. For example, depending on age and basic salary, an individual who is awarded a tariff level 1 lump sum could receive a GIP of over £1m or more during a lifetime. If you are no longer serving and your disablement was caused or made worse as a result of service in the armed forces before 6 April 2005, you can claim under the War Pension Scheme.

The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.