A mistake described as “putting the decimal point in the wrong place” has meant the UK Treasury will have to find an extra £438 million to fund military pensions. Former Armed Services personnel will be paid from an emergency cash pot, until MPs agree to boost the budget to make up for the error.

The Telegraph writes –

‘The Treasury said the shortfall would not disrupt payments to ex-military personnel and there was no hole in the public’s finances because it had been an administrative error… According to a written ministerial statement published yesterday: “This shortfall in the net cash requirement has arisen due to an inadvertent publishing error by HMT in the Central Government Main Supply Estimates 2016-17…Parliamentary approval for additional cash of £438,193,000 will be sought in the Supplementary Estimate for the Armed Forces Pension and Compensation Schemes.” The Ministry of Defence said: “There is no question of payments to veterans or personnel being at risk — our generous compensation and pension schemes, paying over £4bn to veterans each year, will continue to pay out in full and on time.”‘