FRI to go

[jacob's ladder]

Latest IBN text:

The success in retaining aircrew, together with improvements in recruiting and training has meant that certain cadres in the RAF are no longer experiencing shortages. Therefore, MOD has recommended, after careful consideration of current and future aircrew manning profiles, a targeted withdrawal of the FRI to ensure that resources are delivered where they are needed most and thus to protect the credibility of the initiative for potential future use. The AFPRB has accepted the recommendations. Thus, FRI 1 will be withdrawn from all RAF aircrew cadres on 1 Apr 05. FRI 2 will also be withdrawn from some aircrew cadres, although not from those in manning deficit where it has been judged that removing the FRI 2 before the end of its planned life could cause serious manning difficulty and impact on operational capability. The detail is as follows:

• All RAF FRI 1 payments are to cease with effect from 1 Apr 05.

• FRI 2 payments are to cease with effect from 1 Apr 05 for those cadres in manning surplus as detailed below:

• RAF Commissioned Officers – ALM and AEng (all ranks).

• RAF Multi-Engine Junior Officer Pilot.

• RAF Rotary Wing WSO (all ranks).

• RAF Multi-Engine WSO (Nav and AEO) (all ranks).

• FRI 2 payments are to continue to 31 Mar 07 for those cadres in manning deficit as detailed below:

• RAF Fast Jet Pilots (all ranks).

• RAF Multi-Engine Senior Officer Pilots.

• RAF Fast Jet WSOs (all ranks).

• RAF Rotary Wing Pilots (all ranks).

Under current plans, there is no intention to renew or continue FRIs beyond their expiry on 07, although this situation will be kept under review.

The NCA FRI, introduced on 1 Apr 03 following the Airman Aircrew Sustainability Study, was also reviewed, but due to the continued manning deficit in this cadre, it will continue to be paid until the end of this scheme on 31 Mar 06.

FRIs will continue to be paid to RN and Army aircrew due to their manning situation. Should their situation improve sufficiently, the payment of FRIs will be reviewed accordingly.

[hyd3failure]

Good. Thank goodness for that. Sad to hear about JL's FRI though.

[Always_broken_in_wilts]

Should'nt cause too much bad feeling :mad:

all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced

[hyd3failure]

Nope, Your right. Thankfully it has served its purpose and life can return to normality.

[L1A2 discharged]

And the problem is?
:O
No incentives, no retention payments, only pain and moore OOAs to come ..... :mad:

JL,
Why the edit?
:confused:

[BEagle]

If there's a deficit of RAF ME Senior Officer Pilots, but a surplus of ME Junior Officer Pilots, isn't the solution rather obvious?

Except that one JO recently offered promotion, on discovering the wonderful ground job he was being lined up for, told them to ram it and is now leaving.

Or so I hear.

And if the RN and Army are in deficit and the RAF in surplus..? Or do aircrew simply not want to live in ditches and boats?

But I'm sure that this won't cause any ill feeling, having been soooo carefully though out by the caring people at the top....

[Lee Jung]

At least the ONLY incentive to stay past 38 is going to be non-existant by 07. Even if the market improves and there were lots of PVRs I can't see the MOD being able to react in time to ressurect/extend the scheme past that date.

That's made up my mind for me.

[jacob's ladder]

L1A2

I was a little emotional in my first post - having just 'lost' 30 K I was expecting in the next few months. That said, not as emotional as her indoors!

[L1A2 discharged]

Understandable, just reprinted the redundo application. Still got a week to get it to handbrake house. Unfortunately its been very oversubscribed :cool:

[ntscheck]

I have to confess a vested interest here as I have lost out on the FRI 2 that I was hoping for, being a JO ME pilot. However I think the manner in which FRI 2 has only been given to areas considered to be in deficit and not others is divisive indeed.

As I understand it FRI 2 was given at 38 point (reward for accepting assimilation I suppose). As assimilation for JOs is not automatic and therefore subject to manning requirements surely all those assimilated are filling a known or planned deficit. Assimilation in the multi-world is extremely rare and I should be grateful that I have the offer. On the other hand I am more than a bit miffed that I apparently have skills / experience / qualifications the RAF want to keep but I don't get the bonus others do just because they fly FJ or rotary.

Wrote an entry in my diary last night - simply said "bu**er"

[airborne_artist]

And if the RN and Army are in deficit and the RAF in surplus..? Or do aircrew simply not want to live in ditches and boats?

Don't shout too loud Beags - the Warships, Airships and Generals will suggest seemless badgeless jointery for all aircrew to avoid just this situation!

[opso]

...only been given to areas considered to be in deficit and not others is divisive indeed. Odd that when it was introduced, the general consensus on Pprune was that it wasn't devisive paying large bonuses to all aircrew (including the ME world that had a surplus even then), whilst ignoring ground trades that had long been suffering much worse recruitment and retention problems.

The partial withdrawal is no more devisive than the FRI scheme itself and makes more sensible, targetted, use of the money. The follow on question though is whether this targetting carries over to the JR bounties for various trade groups?

[The Gorilla]

If you don't like it you could always prove them wrong and leave!! Quite comfortable out here, really!!!

:O

[hyd3failure]

The FRI has nothing to do with " flying the same ac, spending the same time away etc, etc" and so it doesn't matter how you were employed. What does matter is who employs you.

If you are an RAF Pilot you don't get the FRI as there is no requirement to retain you. In the AAC and RN there is a requirement to retain you and so you get the wonga.

[Si Clik]

A view from a desk.

The current manning issues in the RN and AAC demand that FRI stay. In fact we are actively considering how we deal with the issues post 2007 if the system is removed.

As per the previous post retention incentives will ONLY be contemplated when we wish to RETAIN personnel. The RAF clearly DO NOT need to do so and would appear to wish to pay people to leave.

Anyway by 2007 who knows what the Govt will have a priority for, judging by Bush's performance today, we're going to be plenty busy.

:hmm:

[buoy15]

Good!

This scheme was devisive, ill conceived and wrongly applied

It never recognised personnel who had served loyally for years - in fact, it was geared to "buy" loyalty from waiverers and whingers

I know of one inexperienced Nav who clawed in about £50k having been in for about 8 years, but only front line productive for about 18 months

Yes it does sound like sour grapes - but I didn't pick them

[Father Jack Hackett]

I wonder if Beagle could shed some more of his wisdom on this issue, seeing as he has a particularly good handle on airline recruitment.

Much has been made of the surplus in ME pilots, however although this does exist, it's not as big as you might believe from these pages.

Surely if the airline upturn is going to be quite big, then a small ME surplus could rapidly become a shortage. Withdrawing FRI might be a clincher.

What do you reckon Beags?

[BEagle]

All the indications are that airline recruiting is on the up....

Whereas all the RAF's large a/c replacement programmes are years late.....

Had coffee yesterday with a mate who pulled the black and yellow a couple of years ago, then went to fly the A320. Now with Virgin Atlantic he has the A319, A320, A321, A340-300 and A340-600 on his licence. And should be in a very good position to convert to the A380 in a year or so....

A caring employer, decent roster patterns, no small-minded embuggerances, good quality of life and no sand or tents except on the beach with the kids.

Now the bean counters have binned FRI. Will that encourage people to stay in the slough of despond which is today's RAF ME world? Unless they're half-wingers or into brat-breeding, I doubt it.

I've had more people ask me about civil licensing in the last fortnight than in the whole of 2004......

[Biggus]

FRI was introduced in 2002, with a stated life until 2007. Indeed even the latest 'U need to know' notice, the one that talks about the withdrawl of FRI, states that this was indeed the case. So there is plenty of documentary evidence to that effect. Given that the MOD has now effectively gone back on it's word, does that make them potentially liable to be taken to court, 'breech of contract.....', whatever.

There must be instances of people who have signed on, partly in the expectation of receiving the money, who now won't!!

[abbotyobs]

Yep I agree, to run until 2007 was the banter given at the start, with the only variable being that the FRI's amount might change.
NOTE: That change does not include giving £0!

[anothernumber]

Its nice to see that those who were not inline to get the financial incentive have come out of the wood-work to gloat!

Good on you guys!!

As for the short sighted penny pinching pen pushers of the AFPRB who have cut a cost effective way of retaining a hightly trained and valuable commodity..well done! Im sure youl all sleep very well tonight knowing that you have saved several thousands of pounds off a budget... its a shame you'll be costing the training budget millions of pounds to replace the aircrew that will now stick two fingers up to the RAF and join a nice welcoming airline! Hurrah... take a pat on the back...you've done such a good job?

[Strato Q]

Should'nt cause too much bad feeling
Well it has here, losing 50k (30k net) does not go down to well with me. It was the last thing keeping me in. So I will do my time and go. Oh and by the way I am a brat breeding ME Nav, but enough is enough.

[opso]

Given that the MOD has now effectively gone back on it's word, does that make them potentially liable to be taken to court, 'breech of contract.....', Probably not, for the usual reasons of no written contract etc, but more strongly so, because as the scheme was only ever going to run 02-07, NOBODY can claim that they joined the Service on the belief that they were going to get the bonus. Therefore, nobody can claim that they have entered an implied or verbal contract concerning this money other than those that have already received it.

[hyd3failure]

Sounds like you lot are only in the services for the money!

What ever happened to pride, honour, dignity? Serving the Queen and country?


Given that the MOD has now effectively gone back on it's word, does that make them potentially liable to be taken to court, 'breech of contract


where have they gone back on its word? The FRI will continue til 07 as stated in..

FRI payments are to continue to 31 Mar 07 for those cadres in manning deficit as detailed below:Fast jet pilots, ME senior Pilots, Fast Jet WSO andRW pilots.

And so, like the MOD promised, the FRI will continue til 07 for those that it is aimed towards retaining and the others are not required.

[Biggus]

hyd3failure

First of all I personally am not 'in it for the money', and FRI is not an issue with me! However, reference the concepts you mention of pride, honour, dignity, service, etc... I thought it was generally accepted, in all 3 UK armed services, that the 'youf' of today join, and indeed are recruited, on the basis of a having a rewarding career, and not for the sort of noble reasons you have stated. Certainly that is the case for the majority of young officers I seem to meet today!

At the end of the day you get what you recruit. And at the end of the day, however you try to weasel out of it with typical lawers jargon, the MOD has gone back on its stated intent, and it must live with the ill will that will generate!!

[hyd3failure]

But its not lawyer speak. The MOD said the FRI would continue until 2007 for the specialisations that required retention. And that is what is happening. For the specialisations that do not require retention then the FRI will cease. Its simple economics. If you need to keep a certain cadre of people in your company you give them an incentive to stay. If you don't need them to stay you stop the incentive.

[BootFlap]

Being someone who will now miss out on a FRI, I can not help but feel a little deflated. I am only human, and that money was going to keep Nagger Ops happy (new carpets, etc.), and more importantly let me buy a really, really big TV! I am proud of the uniform that I wear, the job that I do and the comrades (in all the Services) that I am lucky to serve with. But that does not change the fact that we were led to believe that the complete FRI would be left to run until 2007.

To those who have lucked in, I can not help but feel a little jealous, but fair play to you. Hang on to that cash!

Not whingeing or bleating, just a little sad. :( :( :( :(

[5 Forward 6 Back]

Seeing as the Aircrew Retention Review decided that flying pay should only be awarded post-OCU in order to free up cash to pay for FRIs, does that mean it'll now be put back to the traditional 72 week point?

I'm sure I remember reading a briefing Q&A on the ARR saying that it was decided the financial reward should be near the end, not the beginning, hence junior stude aircrew wouldn't get flying pay initially to allow us to heap big lump sums on our more experienced guys.

Or have they convieniently forgotten that? ;)