The Ministry of Defence has unveiled a range of initiatives aimed at improving the retention of Armed Forces personnel, responding to concerns raised in Parliament about workforce challenges.
Caroline Dinenage, Conservative MP for Gosport, questioned the steps being taken to increase retention, prompting a detailed response from Al Carns, the Minister for Veterans.
Al Carns emphasised the government’s commitment to a renewed relationship with those who serve, stating:
“The new Government’s work in improving retention and recruitment is part of a package of measures aimed to renew the contract between the nation and those who serve.”
The approach focuses on modernising employment policies and promoting Defence as a rewarding and forward-facing career.
Financial Incentives and Pay Increases
The MOD has introduced financial measures to support retention, including:
- The largest Armed Forces pay increase in 22 years.
- A £30,000 financial incentive for a cohort of tri-Service Air Engineers.
- An £8,000 retention payment for a cohort of Army personnel.
These measures aim to provide “appropriate financial recognition” to retain key skills and personnel, Carns noted.
Support for Military Families
Recognising the sacrifices made by military families, the government has implemented family-focused measures:
- The cap on Continuity of Education Allowance rates has been lifted to support children’s education despite frequent relocations.
- The recent repurchase of the Service Families Accommodation (SFA) estate from Annington Homes enables a major redevelopment programme to improve housing quality.
- Wraparound Childcare has been extended to families serving overseas, potentially saving up to £3,400 annually per family.
Future Plans
The MOD is preparing additional initiatives to enhance service life, with more measures set to be announced in the spring. Carns highlighted:
“Our aim is to attract and recruit more, as well as maximise the number of applicants that successfully enter and remain in Armed Forces employment.”
One simple idea they could implement across defence would be to cease the “Pay as you dine” system and associated contracts. The food and service is both dreadful and unpopular. It’s a simple quality of life policy for all ranks in all three Services.
One of my friends who was a trainer on Interflex sent me a photo of lunch.
Total joke quality food.
Napoleon did state that an army marches on its stomach…..we appear to have forgotten that!
I never had an issue with it at the camps I served at. Enjoyed the flexibility, as did most others.
Pay as you dine was brought in because the alternative was fucking over soldiers who lived off camp.
Personally I don’t want going home on a weekend to mean I have money docked from my paycheck for meals I won’t eat.
If you lived off camp or ” living out” – in FMQs or your own place you wouldn’t pay food and accommodation charges for the block and if you did choose to eat a meal in the mess you would buy a ticket. Likewise if you “lived in” during the week but drove home at the weekend or were on a duty you would pay a reduced rate for food and accommodation.
I’d prefer to pay for what I eat rather than being double charged if it want a meal out or a take away thank-you.
Certainly a step in the right direction but there is more to do if we are to rebuild confidence, not only for serving personnel but for recruitment too.
Retention it’s a start but I think Recruitment would be a great help in these uncertain times 😏
Retention is more important than recruitment really.
I think it’s a combination of the two Dern, if retention can be improved, then recruitment will be under less pressure.
Get the equilibrium right between the two and we can slowly rebuild both moral and mass.
That needs improved quality of life, both personally and financially.
Easiest move is to stop the cuts until new kit arrives. Gaps causes redundancy. Why stay when your units and mates are being cut.
The 6% was to get them back up from pre inflation levels of pay there were effectively a paycut and we had the very real situation of shelf stackers and full salary Aldi and Tesco tem members making more than Privates in the British Army.
The 8k is going to Ptes and a few LCpls and will be taxed so be just above 6k in reality and has been done trade wise many times before were niche trades get paid it for return of service off 3 years and recruitment is pushed to force commonwealth applications to only be allowed into those niche trades that the people who got their bag then clear off for better paying jobs anyway so it’s a can kicking exerciseat best.
The 35k is again as above a closing the stable door after the horse has bolted exercise you’ll retain them for their return of service they’ll not see any more danegeld coming and be off to better paychecks on civvie street plus the savvy operators can milk this for all its worth anyway. I personally seen a Reme guy take redundancy and be back in 2 years with a golden handshake and his LCpl rank because his trade was so niche and undermanned while I was in and he never had to pay anything back just had money thrown at him to paraphrase him.
It’s just a simple case of meet the new boss same as the old boss they aren’t interested in solving the retention problem the SDR will be the excuse they need to get us down to 65k Troops with lots of buzzwords of being more lethal, alike, multirole bright and bestest BS.
Couldn’t agree more. Disappointing to see some comments by others taken in by the politically spun points. Each has caveats and don’t address other key issues.
Across services number are in freefall, reducing by 1K per month. Being in 20+yrs I can see the issues and degradation that have decimated by a 1000 cuts the living in experience, driven by poor contractual management and systemic austerity.
I could list the well documented and discusssed issues with suggested actions, however it’s all inherently financial investement dependant, which the government simply will not or cannot (i do sympathise with the bugetry issues – just can’t stand the spin and lack of transparency with politics ofc).
Oh well, I served full service and like my brothers and sisters look forward to a much higher salary, benefits, proportionately increasing pension and far better work life balance on Civi Street as I can live with my family mid week for the first time in over a decade.
I might rejoin, looks like I would be in line for £30k
Now they want to retain!it was Blair as pm who issued mass redundancies in 1990’s got out downgraded and did them out of ill related pensions and full MD leaked gov doc came about years later, he had told COs to get as many downgraded as poss out on the redundancy which by the time we reach retirement age will of lost 630k in lost income and pensions! Never invested in our mod properly since spent more on Ukraine than our own I think.now inheritance tax for veterans with this lot and they having a recruitment drive and Starmef said we need to look after our veterans , sounds no different ftom labour from shambles of Blair days.