I recently began the beginning of the end of my Service Job. Learned a few things during the mandatory resettlement 'sign on' presentation. In particular, you cannot claim any claims or allowances during terminal leave so if one literally leaves it until the last min, you loose. The months terminal leave was nice, but you cannot be employed by 2 employers before commencement of terminal leave. All this points to working out the optimal 'last working day' as opposed to last 'paid day', well in advance.
However what really gripped me was that the 'golden handshake' towards training courses has not been increased since 1998. The £534 is worth buttons now compared to what it was in '98, yet I cannot recall it ever being mentioned on these pages. We all have a proven record in our own area of expertise, but there is little that can be transfered direct to the civilian world without additional qualifications/training. I would of thought that the resettlement package was a direct correlation to how ones service has been valued, though perhaps it is!!
If anybody has some good tips on getting the best possible value for money from the resettlement packages, I would be grateful if you would go public (or PM). The good news, is that I did not leave signing up to the package however crap it is until the very last min, although there is already a degree of groundrush involved. I find that everywhere I go now the thought process is "I could do that" or "Shocking, you can shove that one" with not much tucked away in the middle ground.