Reserve Forces: Recruitment

Ministry of Defence written question – answered at on 10 February 2016.

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Photo of Lord Touhig Lord Touhig Opposition Whip (Lords), Shadow Spokesperson (Defence)

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recruitment incentives are given to new reservists in (1) the army, (2) the Royal Navy, and (3) the Royal Air Force, and what is the total cost of those incentives.

Photo of Earl Howe Earl Howe The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence, Deputy Leader of the House of Lords

We have made a number of improvements to ensure we reach our target strength of 35,000 trained volunteer Reservists by 31 March 2019. Central to this is an improved offer, which includes better training, better equipment, improved remuneration and an improved experience for Reservists. We have also widened the opportunity for Reservists to contribute on operations. As a result, more Reservists are joining either as new entrants to the military, or with prior experience either in the Regulars or in the Reserves.

Each of the Services has financial recruiting incentives for its Reserves. For new (ab initio) joiners, the Army and the Royal Navy have Officer recruitment and retention incentives worth a total of £5,000 per person; payments are staged and triggered by completion of specific training milestones. For Other Ranks, the Army has a staged scheme for new joiners worth a total of £2,300 per person.

In addition, the Army and the Royal Air Force (RAF) run a Commitment Bonus scheme which provides staged payments totalling up to £10,000 to ex-Regular personnel providing they meet a set of entry criteria relating to rank, length of Regular Service, levels of training, medical status and training obligations once serving in the Reserve. For details of payments made by the Army, I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my hon. Friend, the Minister for Reserves, in the House of Commons on 23 March 2015 to Question 228297. http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-03-18/228297/

Army Reserve (Word Document, 17.66 KB)

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