PAY CUT FOR THE FORCES

[Tab]

Geoff Hoon Strikes again, to reduce the forces budget the following things are planned, that is to cut the specialist pay for the armed forces. What has been suggested is that Paratroopers, Bomb Dispoal, divers, linguist and dog handlers will lose there extra pay. Also the extra pay for submariners, some pilots, and divers that do extra deep dives could all lose out. This is likely to come into being in 2005. It was also agreed that first class travel for officers would not be affected, well you can't have them traveling with the rank and file now can you, that is just not on.


page 6 Sunday Telegraph 25/04/04 [/url]

[Grimey Vibes]

I think that is bollocks. Its not as if the armed forces are amazingly paid as it is. I am in the process of application into the parachute regiment, and the thought of the measly extra pay being taken away is amazingly British, i mean the government is always looking for a way to screw the whole poulation over. Its something like an extra 3 pounds something a day i think, thats about 21 quid a week. I hate the British government, but i love my country and i want to help in the fight against terrorism and anyone who threatens our well being, the current serving soliders are doing there part. As always the government is not doing theirs and shafting the hard working people who protect this country AGAIN, nothing new.

Blair this if for you and your bum buddys

[Frank S.]

I think that is bollocks.

It's also par for the course, I'm afraid...

british, [...] the british government

Capital 'B', please.
I don't disagree with you, mind, but these things are to be expected unfortunately and I don't know what the solution would be.

[druadan]

I don't condone it, but look at the savings you'd make as the government. £3/day. That's £21 a week (armed forces are paid 7 days a week, 365 days a year I believe). That's over £1000 per specialist soldier per year (or at least, per specialist that gets the extra pay all year round, not just when he's using his specialisation). It all adds up. I mean, for each 1000 soldiers you take a bit of money off, you'd have £1,000,000. You could get, uh, an anti-air missile or two for that...

Stingy tossers, the government...

[Tab]

Well some has to pay for the extra security in the House Commons, the glass sheild on the visitors gallery is going to cost 2.5 million pounds.

[BenChug]

Sucks, I just got a pay increase as of April 1st.

[goffer]

I read the article in yesterdays Telegraph as well, and I was under the impression that specialist pay would only be awarded when actually being used operationally. I.e. Aircrew would get flying pay when on an operational flying sqn, paras would get extra pay for actually parachuting, divers when actually operationally employed as a diver, etc.

Personally I think it's a terrible statement to current members of HM armed forces as to the value of their specialist skills. Surely this will lead to a decline in specialists in the forces as soldiers/sailors/airmen will not see the point of putting themselves through gruelling specialist courses to see limited financial gain.

[df2inaus]

I guess everyone's shocked, but hardly surprised. The money they save now will pale in comparison to what they have to dish out to get these specialists back when the inevitable shortage blows up in Downing Street's face.

Isn't the whole idea of the daily extra pay to keep people in the military in the first place? How much more could divers be making working on North Sea oil rigs, for instance?

[Jagd]

Doing this at any time would be wrong, but doing it while expecting our troops to be involved in an operation that could last many years is disgusting. Perhaps one day politicians and civil servants will realise that if you want to send an army halfway around the world and expect it to fight a war it needs to be well payed and well equipped and that cost money. Aswell as the current government, the Conservatives have also said that if they get elected they will make cuts pretty much everywhere, including defense, so it looks like a no win situation, basically because the people in power and a large part of the population don't give a f$3k about it.
There probably will be a decline in the number of people who are qualified for specialist jobs if this goes ahead, but i don't think the majority of paras, divers and other specialists do what they do for the extra money.

[wannabe_bootneck]

While I whole heartedly condem this, I feel a few points need raising over it. I personally, believe the armed forces should be on a handsome wage for the job they do, however, they aren't. I'd hope those going in to the know this and join because they really want to serve, therefore they must be determined folk. I don't think specialists will decline amazingly either, for example, I doubt a bloke joins the Parachute Regiment from civvi street just at the promise of a few extra quid a day! I hope not, it's the attraction of serving with an elite unit, doing a highly specialised job, that not many can claim to be good enough to do!

[Seven]

Which is exactly why they can cut pay, they know recruitment won't suffer much because of it.

[df2inaus]

JagD,

There probably will be a decline in the number of people who are qualified for specialist jobs if this goes ahead, but i don't think the majority of paras, divers and other specialists do what they do for the extra money.

We'll never know what their motivation is exactly but private companies will approach them, be it security, commercial diving or mine clearance, and the men will have no longer have the slightest incentive to say no as they approach the end of their contracts.

The government obviously loves the idea that people do various loathsome (meaning, not enough people are interested) public sector jobs for non-financial reasons and that they can be taken advantage of.

I am not calling the military a loathsome job by any means, but far fewer people are joining up. Didn't the Army have 173,000 soldiers at the height of dangerous operations in Northern Ireland?

Teaching's a prime example, after generations of low teacher pay, state education is in deep trouble and will be for a long time. One reason might be because young women have more career options in life, which is a good thing, of course. The government's solution? Give teachers 10,000 GBP to enter the profession and stay 4 (?) years. After which, the majority leave when they find themselves back on a low salary. Same thing will happen in the Forces.

I sound like a leftist, I know, but after teaching in the state system, I am for the first time in my life in favour of higher public sector salaries (NOT including fat cat administrators). How much longer will London schools be staffed by South Africans? NHS by Filipino nurses? Its a great opportunity for foreigners to work in the UK and short term demand is satisfied, but in the long term there will be problems.

df2