Crikey,
That is a pretty significant manning development that was rather quietly introduced. Many thanks the very useful info Arty and TEP. Where would we be without fine Pruners highlighting these clandestine alterations?
Mr Bernoulli correctly highlights some of the weaknesses in the FRI system. Just remember, however, that you may find yourself at the end of the five years on the wrong side of the employment curve...
To be fair, were it not for the worst recession in living memory, we'd be up said creek sans paddle right now.
When the recovery (big when!) happens, it may not be pretty in terms of JPA pvr button presses! If there is no recovery in the next couple of years (double-dip etc), I'd expect some significant shedding of personnel at option points.
Interesting that the redundancy terms have also been tweeked...
