The PVR abatement is not universal. On AFPS75 it only applied to officers and effectively only to those who left pre-IPP. During the tweaking to Pay 2000 ahead of JPA the abatement was quietly extended to all officers who PVR'd post-IPP (the old RAF 38/16 point) but before full pension, albeit on a sliding scale.
I always considered it particularly parsimonious to abate pensions for those who were not bound by an RoS and had serviced many years beyond their original engagement. Indeed, it was another factor that fuelled the IPP pinch-point when the services were actively seeking more flexible terms.
If PVR abatement was reasonable and proportionate why was it limited to officers only....
The newer pension schemes are more reasonable in this regard, although I hear of transitional issues where PVR abatement has been applied to those leaving on AFPS15 terms, but had prior service on AFPS75. A particularly unsavoury application of the pick-and-mix pension rigging that carries forward the disadvantages of a scheme, but not its benefits.