VA 5-, 10-, and 20-Year Rating Protection Rules

What these rules are, and what they are not

They are time-based protections. Each one blocks a different VA move.

The five-year rule is about stabilization of an evaluation. It is not a promise that the percentage can never change.

The ten-year rule is about severance of service connection. VA can still reduce the percentage of a ten-year grant. It generally cannot yank the service connection itself.

The twenty-year rule is about the percentage floor. A disability continuously rated at or above a given evaluation for twenty years will not be reduced below that evaluation except for fraud.

They are not loyalty punch cards. Time alone does not raise the rating. Time changes what VA has to prove before it takes something away.

The five-year rule: stabilization

38 CFR § 3.344(c) says paragraphs (a) and (b) apply to ratings which have continued for long periods at the same level, five years or more. They do not apply to disabilities which have not become stabilized and are likely to improve. Reexaminations that disclose improvement in those unstabilized disabilities will warrant reduction.

§ 3.344(a) is the substance. Rating agencies are supposed to produce the greatest degree of stability consistent with the law. The entire record of examinations and the medical-industrial history has to be reviewed. Examinations less full and complete than those on which payments were authorized or continued will not be used as a basis of reduction.

Ratings for diseases subject to temporary or episodic improvement will not be reduced on any one examination, except where all the evidence of record clearly warrants the conclusion that sustained improvement has been demonstrated. Even when material improvement is clearly reflected, the rating agency must consider whether the evidence makes it reasonably certain that the improvement will be maintained under the ordinary conditions of life.

§ 3.344(b) covers doubtful cases. If doubt remains, VA continues the rating and schedules reexamination in 18, 24, or 30 months.

The ten-year rule: service connection

38 U.S.C. § 1159 says service connection for a disability or death that has been in force for ten or more years shall not be severed except upon a showing that the original grant was based on fraud, or it is clearly shown from military records that the person did not have the requisite service or character of discharge. The period is computed from the date the Secretary determines the status commenced for rating purposes.

38 CFR § 3.957 implements that statute. The ten-year period runs from the effective date of the finding of service connection to the effective date of the rating decision severing service connection, after compliance with § 3.105(d). The protection extends to claims for DIC or death compensation.

What ten years does not do: it does not freeze the percentage. A 30 percent knee that has been service-connected for twelve years can still be proposed for reduction if the severity evidence supports it. The service connection itself is the protected thing.

The twenty-year rule: the percentage floor

38 U.S.C. § 110 says a disability continuously rated at or above an evaluation for twenty or more years for compensation purposes shall not thereafter be rated at less than that evaluation, except upon a showing that the rating was based on fraud. A total or permanent-total rating continuously in force for twenty years has the same fraud-only reduction rule. The period is computed from the date the Secretary determines the status commenced for rating purposes.

38 CFR § 3.951(b) says the same thing and computes the twenty years from the effective date of the evaluation to the effective date of reduction.

§ 3.951(a) is a related but different protection. A readjustment to the rating schedule is not grounds to reduce a rating in effect on the date of the readjustment unless medical evidence establishes that the disability has actually improved.

What twenty years does not do: it does not block fraud. It does not, by itself, block a CUE attack on the original decision. If the original evaluation was undebatably wrong on the old record, CUE can revise that decision as if the error had not been made. That is not a "reduction for improvement." It is a correction of the original act.

What to look at on the letter and on VA.gov

Find the effective date of the evaluation, not the date you opened the letter. The clocks in § 3.957 and § 3.951(b) run from effective date to effective date.

If the letter is a proposed reduction, read it for which protection VA thinks applies. A five-year discussion should talk about the completeness of the new exam and ordinary conditions of life. A twenty-year discussion should be rare and should mention fraud if VA is still trying to go below the floor.

On VA.gov, the rating codesheet in the decision packet is more useful than the status bar. You want the evaluation history for that diagnostic code.

Evidence that helps if VA proposes a change

For a five-year stabilization fight, compare exams. Was the new exam as full as the one that supported the rating? Does the file show sustained improvement, or one good morning? Does the improvement hold under ordinary work and home life, not after bed rest?

For a ten-year severance fight, the first question is whether VA is actually proposing severance or only a lower percentage. Those are different letters. Severance after ten years has to fit the fraud or no-service exceptions.

For a twenty-year floor, the evaluation history is the exhibit. Continuous is the statutory word. Gaps, staged ratings, and later increases can change what "at or above" means. That is fact-specific. Get an accredited representative into the file before you guess.

Mistakes to avoid

Treating five years as a lock on the percentage. It is a higher reduction standard, not a vault.

Treating ten years as a lock on the percentage. It protects service connection, not the number.

FAQ

What does the five-year rule actually protect?

It applies the stabilization rules in 38 CFR § 3.344(a) and (b) to ratings that have continued at the same level for five years or more. VA should not reduce those ratings on a less complete exam, or on one exam for episodic conditions, unless sustained improvement under ordinary life is shown.

Can VA still reduce a rating after ten years?

Yes, if the issue is the percentage. 38 CFR § 3.957 protects against severance of service connection, with fraud and no-qualifying-service exceptions. It does not freeze the evaluation.

What does the twenty-year rule protect?

A disability continuously rated at or above an evaluation for twenty years will not be reduced below that evaluation except for fraud. 38 U.S.C. § 110; 38 CFR § 3.951(b).

Do these rules block CUE?

They are not a CUE immunity clause. CUE revises the original decision on the old record. Fraud is an express exception to the ten- and twenty-year statutes.

Does a change in the rating schedule knock my old percentage down?

38 CFR § 3.951(a) says a schedule readjustment is not grounds for reduction unless medical evidence establishes actual improvement.

Where do the 30-day and 60-day reduction notices fit?

Those are the § 3.105 process rules. They apply when VA proposes to reduce current pay or sever service connection. The time-based protections are arguments inside that process. Details are in the HLR-reduction post.

Primary sources

• 38 CFR § 3.344
• 38 CFR § 3.957
• 38 CFR § 3.951
• 38 CFR § 3.105
• 38 U.S.C. § 1159
• 38 U.S.C. § 110

Educational content only. Not legal or medical advice. Confirm against the veteran's actual notice and current eCFR / VA.gov. For claim-specific help, use a VA-accredited VSO, claims agent, or attorney.