Soldiers are being forced out of the army days before they would have got their full pensions
Soldiers who served in war zones including Afghanistan and Iraq been told they will be made redundant
Soldiers are being forced out of the Army just days before they would qualify for a full pension in what their families yesterday denounced as ‘underhand cost-cutting’.
Experienced staff who risked their lives in war zones including Afghanistan and Iraq have been told they will be made redundant just before they become eligible for generous pension pay-outs.
Their families accused the Army of betraying soldiers after years of service and sacrificing them to save cash.
One sergeant of 40 serving in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers was only three days away from completing 22 years and qualifying for an immediate pension pot worth £108,000.
He will now have to wait 25 years to receive the pension when he is 65.
Angry parents said their officer sons were targeted for compulsory redundancies when they were just short of serving 16 years – the cut-off point at which they would get an immediate annual pay-out of about £12,000.
They will now also have to wait until they reach 65 before receiving any pension payment.
Diana and Barry Payne said their son, Major Richard Payne, was sacked 86 days before that cut-off point after completing ‘life-threatening’ tours of Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Northern Ireland.
'We just feel the Army have acted in an underhand way in dealing with this matter'
Father of Major Richard Payne
Mr Payne said that while he understood that the Army has to reduce numbers in accordance with government directives, it was wrong to select for redundancy officers about to reach pensionable entitlement.
Mr Payne told the Daily Mail yesterday: ‘He’s been in the Army for 15 years, and had 86 days to go. We just feel the Army have acted in an underhand way in dealing with this matter.
‘It doesn’t appear that they have taken into account people’s service, their record abroad.
‘My son has worked in Kosovo, Northern Ireland, and Iraq, putting his life at risk and the Army seems to have forgotten about this when they made this decision on redundancy.
Disgusting: Servicemen are being sacked just days before they are due to qualify for their full pension
Disgusting: Servicemen are being sacked just days before they are due to qualify for their full pension
'The experience these officers have got from their service overseas is just being thrown away because of the government cuts.’
The Army has just sacked 3,000 personnel in the latest round of cost-cutting redundancies, including 300 officers.
They are part of a programme which could see 11,000 jobs cut across the RAF, Army and Royal Navy by April 2015.
Under the Armed Forces pension scheme, personnel are awarded about 40 per cent of their final salary, making the scheme one of the most generous in the public sector.
Servicemen over 40 with 16 or 18 years of service can claim an immediate pension and a tax-free lump sum on leaving the Army and a second lump sum at the age of 65.
Henry Whitham said his son, Major Rupert Whitham, was sacked when he was only a year away from qualifying for an immediate pension pay-out.
The 38-year-old has served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone and the Falklands but will be forced to leave the Army next June, when he will lose his chance of that lump sum payment and also the boarding school allowance for his two young children.
Henry Whitham said yesterday: ‘It’s based on cost and not commitment or experience.
‘My son always wanted to be in the Army since he was a child and thought he would be in the Army most of his working life and now that has been smashed. He has been absolutely shattered by it.’
Mr Whitham said that his son’s wife and children have had to put up with frequent absences.
He added: ‘It seems a substantial number of officers are suffering the same fate.
‘The decision is not being made on the grounds of ability, experience or commitment, purely on cost.
‘I may be an angry parent but it would appear that capable, experienced and dedicated officers are being sacrificed.
‘This, to pay for expensive aircraft carriers or planes that do not replace the boots on the ground. These redundancies, apart from the human cost, will ensure that we have a less motivated Army.’
Mr Whitham said he did not think the Army would alter its policy.
Mr Whitham’s suspicions of targeted redundancies were deepened when he learned 38 of his son’s 50-strong Sandhurst intake were sacked.
The Army has denied that it has sacrificed soldiers and officers who were approaching the pension eligibility.
Brigadier Rob Nitsch, the head of Army manning, said: ‘Selection for compulsory redundancy from the Armed Forces has been determined by future manpower requirements.
'It is not the case that proximity to the date at which a pension would be paid was a consideration for redundancy selection.
‘For those close to their pension point, the redundancy lump sums considerably exceed those that would be paid to individuals who had reached their pension point.’
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