Eligibility
The gratuity would be paid to every warrant officer, non-commissioned officer and man who served with the army or air force, either voluntarily or compulsorily, since 4 August 1914, and to the legatees or next of kin of those who had lost their lives.
The exceptions to this were as follows:
Men discharged with less than six months service and who had not served overseas;
Men discharged for misconduct;
Men sentenced to death either by court-martial or the civil power, where that sentence had been carried out;
Men who died in a state of mutiny or desertion;
Men promoted, or discharged for the purpose of being appointed to a commission [as an officer], or who had been granted a commission subsequent to being discharged;
Men discharged for the purpose of joining, or of bring appointed to a commission [as an officer] in the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, the Colonial or Dominion Forces, or the army of an allied state – or who, subsequent to their discharge for any other cause, were appointed to a commission in any of those forces;
Men who during their military service were in receipt of full civilain emoluments from the General Post Office in addition to their military emoluments;
Men who had been sentenced to penal servitude, imprisonment or detention for an offence they alleged arose out of conscientious objection to military service.
The following would not count towards qualifying service:
Service previous to date of conviction for desertion, unless that service had been restored under King’s Regulations;
Any period of penal servitude, imprisonment or detention exceeding 28 days;
Any continuous period of absence without leave exceeding 28 days;
Any period of service in which the man had been in receipt of civilian wages (for example, as a member of Class W Army Reserve).
Rates
Every man eligible for gratuity who had served over six months, either at home or overseas, would receive the following minimum gratuity payment:
Private, Lance-Corporal or Lance-Bombardier ….. £5
Corporal, Second-Corporal, Bombardier or Lance-Sergeant ….. £6
Sergeant ….. £8
Staff-Sergeant, Colour-Sergeant, etc ….. £10
Warrant Officer Class II ….. £12
Warrant Officer Class I ….. £15
Every man who had served over twelve months would also receive, irrespective of rank:
10 Shillings per month for every extra month, provided he served overseas at some point in his service (unless he drew service pension during any of those extra months, or could have done so, in which case the rate would be 5 Shillings);
5 Shillings per month for every extra month, if he had not served overseas at any time during his service (unless he drew service pension during any of those extra months, or could have done so, in which case the rate would be 2 Shillings and sixpence).
The normal service gratuity of £1 per year that was payable to soldiers for their service with the colours would be, except in the case of regular soldiers who enlisted on normal engagements, would be deducted from the war gratuity.
Similarly, those specially enlisted soldiers who were entitled by their contracts to a special £5, etc. “in addition to any war gratuity” would have thier war gratuity reduced by the corresponding amount.
For those who lost their lives, the gratuity-qualifying period would cease at the date of death.
Limit
In no case would a gratuity be paid for more than 48 additional months. In other words, five years was the limit of the period forf which gratuity would be paid. But that did not necessarily mean that from 4 August 1919, men still serving would then be disqualified from further gratuity. Only those who had earned the full five years would be disqualified. The exact date of discontinuance of gratuity would be announced at a later date [it was eventually announced as 3 August 1919].
Payment
It was later announced that serving soldiers would receive their war grauity at the end of the 28 days of furlough granted as part of demobilisation. Men who had served overseas but not in an expeditionary force [for example, in India] would receive the gratuity on the home scale. In the case of men discharged before 9 December 1918 who had not received their full gratuity, they could apply for the balance by using a form they could collect at a Post Office.
The gratuity would be issued in the form of a Post Office Savings Bank Book deposit.
The legatees or next of kin of those who had died would not [if the system worked correctly] be called upon to apply for it.
War widows
On 9 August 1917 it was announced that war widows would receive a new additional gratuity of £5, payable to all whose soldier had died on or since 1 July 1916. This appeares to have replaced the £3 that had been paid to widows since introduction in April 1917.