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| Britain | |
| Soldiers sacked days before pension date | |
| 2012-06-18 | |
| Soldiers who have been made redundant were sacked days before they qualified for a full pension, families of servicemen have complained. They have raised suspicions that the Army, which has just axed 3,000 personnel, targeted a number who were within touching distance of generous lifelong pay outs. One 40-year-old sergeant serving in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers was only three days away from serving 22 years and qualifying for an immediate pension pot worth £108,000. He will now have to wait until he is 65 to receive the pension. Parents of officers have also contacted The Daily Telegraph saying that their sons have been sacked just short of serving 16 years, at which point they would get an immediate annual stipend of around £12,000. They too will have to wait until they are 65. The Armed Forces pension scheme is seen as one of the more generous in the public sector with personnel awarded around 40 per cent of their final salary. Servicemen aged over 40 with 16 or 18 years’ service can claim an immediate pension and tax-free lump sum on leaving the Army and a second lump sum at 65. But Henry Witham said his son, Rupert, a major in the infantry, was just a year away from qualifying for an immediate pension when he was sacked. The 38-year-old soldier has served four tours in Afghanistan and received a steady number of good reports. Not only does he lose his pension but also the boarding school allowance for his two young children. “Enthusiasm and loyalty to the Army have been rewarded by the sack, purely on the grounds that a decent pension was due after 16 years of service,” Mr Witham said. “The decision is not being made on the grounds of ability, experience or commitment, purely on cost. It would appear that capable, experienced and dedicated officers are being sacrificed. His suspicions were further raised after 38 out of 50 of his son’s Sandhurst 1999 intake have been sacked. In the most recent round of redundancies announced last week the Army lost 300 officers in total, who are seen as the most combat experienced for generations. Brigadier Rob Nitsch, the head of Army manning, said that the sackings had been “determined by future manpower requirements”. “It is not the case that proximity to the date at which a pension would be paid was a consideration for redundancy selection.”
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| Posted by: |
| #3 Sounds like a great recruitment advertisement. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2012-06-18 15:46 |
| #2 Used to do it in the American forces too till Congress inserted the eighteen year lock in protection. If they can't process you out through normal attrition procedures before you hit the 18 year mark, you're protected till 20 and retirement eligibility barring courts martial or separation for cause. Brigadier Rob Nitsch, the head of Army manning, said that the sackings had been “determined by future manpower requirements”. Wonder how many cut backs are slicing into the Colonel/General level? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2012-06-18 15:35 |
| #1 Some things never change. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-06-18 14:38 |