heights good
You need to check your maths chum. A £20k FRI with a 5yr ROS is £4k a year. Even after tax at 40% it is £2.4k a year or £200 a month extra in your pocket. But then you shouldn’t think of it that way, more like a £12k lump sum in your pocket to do something with. If you wanted to generate that sort of money then a 5 year loan would cost you probably £230-£250 a month with the interest. This is costing you nothing but for a bit more loyalty!
banterbus
If I read this correctly “I also didn't turn up to the frontline as a pilot and expect to spend 10+ hours a week staring at Excel sorting the programme out as well as all the other rubbish we have to deal with!!”, you don’t believe that you should be the Sqn Programmer. As one myself back between 1999 and 2003, let me tell you that being a Programmer is worth it’s weight in gold - both personally and for ensuring some chinless non-Aircrew chiseller isn’t doing your programming for you. Now we can get someone in to programme and you can go flying more and more, but when you need that “mate’s rate” favour or making sure that the right team is put on a sortie together, then you have just lost that flexibility.
Also, the same goes for the £70k lump sum at OCU+7. It’s a friggin’ big wadge of cash, even after tax you should have £41k (ish) after tax and NI. Again, think of it as a lump sum and not the 6 yr ROS. It costs you nothing, it is conveniently house deposit sized and your wages (basic and RRP(F)) will still go up during that time. It then gets you to an Early Departure Payment point (within 2 years for most) and you should have by then either promoted, been offered PAS or chosen to leave. Anyone who chooses to leave before they get their EDP is a
freakin’ idjit - get that in the bag and then leave with a nice monthly payment from then on to help with the mortgage that you started with your £70k Retention Payment roughly 8 years earlier.