Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to encourage full-time regular soldiers to join the reserves after they leave the Army.

Anna Soubry

We are keen to see ex-members of the Regular Army join the Army Reserve and have two schemes in place to support this:

Ex-Regular Commitment Bonus:

£10,000 over four payments.

Payable from 1 April 2014, back dated to 1 January 2014.

The Scheme will run until 31 March 2017.

Ex-Regular Reduced Commitment Incentive. This allows ex-Regulars to serve on a reduced commitment for up to three years from when they join the Army Reserve:

Reduced annual training requirement (19 days, down from 27 for Regional units):

Reduced call out liability (except under sect 52 of RFA 96, no call-out liability; aside for national emergencies).

Reduced Military Annual Training Tests.

Ex-Regulars who participate in the Commitment Bonus scheme are ineligible to benefit from the Army Reserve Reduced Commitment scheme.