wrt issues such as a return of service does anyone know of an expert on employment law?
From my research an employer can change your conditions so long as they can prove that they had to (MoD out of money) and they did it fairly (which they are trying to do) and there was a consultancy period (which there is). This would appear to hold true if you were (for example) trying to claim constructive dismissal.
Where would one stand as far as a return of service is concerned? To my mind the PA spine isn't a return of service so much as a qualifying period. However a lot of qualifications and courses do carry returns of service which, if accepted and honoured, will from Apr 12 onwards result in you still serving when the changes take place. i.e. no matter how much you dislike the changes you can't legally leave...or can you?
The exam question is: How big a change in the pension would it take for it to be seen as unreasonable to enforce a return of service accepted before the details of the changes were released?