Redundancy on question time last night

[effortless]

A wife last night said that servicemen were being paid off just before full pension entitlement. Is this true? I've come across this in US organisations but this is new to me here.

[Courtney Mil]

A wife? How many have you got?

It was mentioned and there have been one or two cases in the press in recent months. But I don't think any politician would ever state that as a policy. No one would join.

[effortless]

Ah Courtney, if you laid all my wives end to end...........you would still get no sex.



I was only half awake but I got the impression that she was a naval wife. The ministerial type was, of course mealy mouthed. I do hope that some management consultant type hasn't managed to import this nasty little abuse into our services. :*

[Biggus]

It appears to be an Army thing, part of their "Manning control":

Soldiers sacked days before pension date - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9337175/Soldiers-sacked-days-before-pension-date.html)

Soldier sacked by army 72 HOURS before he gets his full pension - Mirror Online (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/soldier-sacked-by-army-72-hours-1389909)

Manning control - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manning_control)

and even....

Soldiers sacked days before pension date [Archive] - PPRuNe Forums (http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-488286.html)

[Wander00]

It was reported as a not unknown occurrence in the last redundancy round, sometimes within days of pension entitlement. IMHO it is immoral, deceitful and should be banned.


Back to the pool!

[effortless]

What utter aerosols!:*:*

[JeroenC]

Glad that in my countey pensions are personal. Part of your wage, once earned it's yours. As it should be. Disgusting practises....

[beardy]

My nephew applied for and was granted early release with resettlement from the Army. He was subsequently offered an earlier date than was agreed, he took it only to later discover that by doing so he was no longer entitled to the resettlement allowances he had been banking on. The implications of the early release had not been pointed out to him, nor to the others from his corps who were in a similar position. This was shortly after the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

[Wander00]

certainly there was a case decided years ago albeit I think in the private sector that "pension" is "deferred pay", and an entitlement. I recall as an administrator in local government, retirements and associated pension approvals were always minuted along the lines ...."on the best terms possible".

[The Oberon]

Pops up frequently on Arrse, seems to be an Army habit.

[Danny42C]

Will wonders never cease ? The Great British Public has at last wakened to the fact that Britain is almost defenceless. :(

D.

[Wander00]

Nah, they are not bright enough

[Skeleton]

It does happen in the RAF, I know of two people who applied for and were accepted for redundancy in 2011. There original exit dates were brought forward which stripped them of there Pension rights, one of them by 12 days. I was out of the RAF by then and glad to be, no way would I have stayed working for an outfit that could stoop that low, and the silence from the Senior Ranks on the subject was deafening according to one of the two involved.

[Hangarshuffle]

I was at a mess dinner at Culdrose and I overheard an Naval Officer actually laughing about one of his division (a Junior Rating) who had been given an enforced redundancy (and had been in tears, as his effective life had collapsed around his ears). Thankfully also I was on my way out at the time. The simple answer to everyone is at this present time within the UK forces-"you are on your own mate, and good luck with it".

[Danny42C]

(Copied from "62 Years ago Today" as being relevant here):


Lament.

♫" Once I had an Air Force, made it run - made it run against time....

- Once I had an Air Force - now it's gone...

- Brother, could you spare a dime... ?"♫ :(

D.

[mopardave]

Gents.......this is making uncomfortable reading! My daughter was talking to me yesterday about baling out as an NHS doctor and applying for the RAF......which, I of course would absolutely love her to do. She's getting a little jaded with the abuse she gets as part of the "package" of being a junior hospital Doctor! I'm well aware that the forces ain't what they used to be, having a son who's an ex Royal Engineer. It just makes me wonder, should I actually be encouraging her? Can our political masters not, for once, just do the right thing for the cream of this countries youth?!!!!!
MD:ugh:

[sharpend]

Gents.......this is making uncomfortable reading! My daughter was talking to me yesterday about baling out as an NHS doctor and applying for the RAF......It just makes me wonder, should I actually be encouraging her?
MD:ugh:

I saw the good days, no, the GREAT days and was glad to leave after 39 years. But my hunch is that the RAF will be great again. Just not sure of the timing. Only problem is that with increasing technology, aircrew will gradually become obsolete. Still, we will always needs support staff.

[Skeleton]

Can our political masters not, for once, just do the right thing for the cream of this countries youth?!!!!!

Not while the bean counters (whose idea of overseas action is lying on a sunbed in Benidorm) have any say. All the little added extras that helped make your mind up to stay in the RAF have been slowly stripped away, but even for them this is way past the cruel mark. You reap what you sow and the RAF's top brass would do well to remember that IMHO, speaking out after you leave about cuts seems to be the norm these days, but i guess they have a pension to fall back on.

Apologies, being reminded of this has reacquainted me with the anger i felt at the time i found out.

Sharpend i hope you are correct, but a massive change of direction has to occur for the RAF to become great again, that's if we still have one of course.

[The Oberon]

To quote Beagle from a thread a couple of years ago "I would strongly recommend anyone joining the organisation that I was in, but that organisation no longer exists".

[Danny42C]

It still remains true that our political masters will only start spending money on Defence when their voters are sufficiently frightened.

Anyone who has lived through the Thirties has a strong feeling of Déja vu !

They might reflect that a nation which now cavils at spending 2% of GDP on its defence had, in living memory, to spend 75% in a desperate struggle for survival.

D.

EDIT: Read Kipling's "Natural Theology"

[smujsmith]

Danny,

What a profound interpretation of "challenges" past. The last vestige of the political bullsh1tter of modern times is his insistence that force levels currently meet predicted threat. The minute the guano hits the fan, they will be pointing fingers at the Military brass, the top defence employed civil servants, and yes, history as an excuse for their failings. Bottom line, they are working to an agenda driven by imported opinion, who have never experienced the likes of WW2, never considered the threat of the Cold War, and very ready to be derogatory to those who have experienced the reality of war. I'm getting to a point where I despair at the state our country is being dragged down to, I'm damn sure that my now deceased father in law, who did his bit in WW2, would be rolling in his grave at the way things are going.