Sailors and fellow Service personnel on Cyprus have been briefed on the shake-up of Forces Pensions - a briefing their colleagues around the worl should all have received by next summer.

Changes to the existing pension scheme are likely to be introduced from April 2006 and all personnel will be expected to say whether they wish to stay with the existing scheme, or swap to the new pension.

The decision, once made, is irreversible so lectures are being held and pamphlets distributed to allow personnel to take the decision which suits them best.

"There is no 'one size fits all' for either scheme when it comes to making the decision, it is imperative that personnel factor in all circumstances - financial, divorce, children, everything," said Maj Gen James Gordon, general secretary of the Armed Forces Pension Society.

Among the most significant changes to the pension system will revolve around the amount of time served in uniform.

Under the current scheme, sailors and marines joining up at 16 are not credited with their first two years of service when the pension is calculated. That is being redressed in the new-look pension, which new entrants to HM Forces will automatically be signed up to.