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 sons 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.
#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?
The Scottish ruling party SNP says the British government has "no democratic mandate to impose" a planned £1 billion project for renewal of Britain's nuclear-armed submarines on Scotland, where the boats are based.
SNP defense spokesman Angus Robertson said there is overwhelming opposition to the Trident nuclear program in Scotland.
"People in Scotland do not want Trident. Church leaders, the Scottish Trades Union Council, The Scottish Government and the Scotland's Parliament are all against weapons of mass destruction being in our waters," Robertson said.
"Despite this the UK Government is prepared to spend £1 billion of taxpayers money on a needless program and then expect the people of Scotland to accept weapons of mass destruction being dumped here," he added.
He further called for a "world free from nuclear weapons" saying the party, which is leading a campaign for Scotland's independence from Britain, has a "solid commitment" to the "earliest possible withdrawal of Trident from Scotland."
SNP's reaction came after British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said the government plans to announce a contract ordering nuclear reactors for a new class of submarines to replace the current Vanguard fleet that carries the Trident nuclear missiles.
The London governemnt is also facing strong opposition to Trident replacement due to its massive costs to an already sinking British economy.
Scottish government Strategy Secretary Bruce Crawford earlier said the costs for the new Trident weapons system are estimated to "be anything up to £25billion and, over the lifetime, £100billion."
"I think it's an obscenity that we're going to be pressing ahead at this time with this particular system," he added.
British Royal Navy is now operating 58 nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missiles as well as around 200 nuclear warheads on four Vanguard-class submarines based in Clyde Naval Base at Faslane, western Scotland.
Continued on Page 47
[Iran Press TV] Striking workers on low incomes are to have their benefits cut under the British government's controversial welfare reforms to be unveiled this week, a move that has been criticized for attacking vulnerable low-paid workers.
Striking workers will not have their wages topped up by the state under the rules of the new Universal Credit, which is replacing the current benefit system.
The British Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said the current benefit system, which compensates the workers and tops up their income when they go on strike, is "unfair and creates perverse incentives."
"Striking is a choice and in future benefit claimants will have to pay the price as, under Universal Credit, we no longer will," he added.
However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... the Coalition government's move to halt the working tax credits of striking claimants, earning under £13,000 a year, has been widely criticized.
"Iain Duncan Smith isn't just out of touch; he's in La-La Land. He tells hard-pressed families simply to get a new job. What planet is he on?" said British shadow welfare secretary Liam Byrne.
In addition, Labour MP Anne Begg, chair of the work and pensions select committee, said, "There are still a lot of questions to be answered about the Universal Credit."
No one in England is willing to play the role of King Edward this time...
MSPs have for the first time voted in favour of Scotland becoming independent.
First Minister Alex Salmond hailed the vote, by 69 to 52, as a "milestone" in the country's history. He also revealed that 15,000 people have backed a declaration stating it is "fundamentally better" if decisions about the country's future are taken by the people of Scotland.
The declaration is a key part of the Yes Scotland cross-party campaign for independence, which officially got under way just six days ago. At the time of its launch Mr Salmond declared that if one million voters put their names to it "then we shall win an independent Scotland".
The SNP leader revealed 15,000 people had already given it their backing as Holyrood debated the country's constitutional future.
Labour, Tories and the Liberal Democrats all united round an amendment put forward by Johann Lamont, the Scottish Labour leader. It argued that it was in Scotland's best interest to remain part of the United Kingdom and that the country was "stronger together and weaker apart".
But that was defeated, with MSPs instead backing Mr Salmond's motion, which said: "The Parliament agrees that Scotland should be an independent country."
While the vote is largely procedural, it will have symbolic significance for Nationalists, who can now state that independence is "the will of the Scottish Parliament".
Mr Salmond said: "Today, for the first time since the beginning of the political union, the elected representatives of the people of Scotland have agreed that this nation should be an independent country." He said the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 had a been a "milestone in Scotland's journey" and added: "The motion today marks another."
While he said Holyrood had "achieved much in its short life span" - such as the ban on smoking in public places - he added: "This Parliament is not yet able to make many of the key decisions which affect the lives of our fellow countrymen and women."
But Ms Lamont argued that most Scots did not want independence. "We, as a nation, were never conquered," the Labour leader said. "The United Kingdom has not been imposed upon us, it is the choice of Scots. It is the choice of Scots to share power with our neighbours in these small islands."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
England would be much better off without the Scottish albatross.
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