News

Job cuts uncertainty for army barracks families

By Amy Taylor
January 24, 2013

“THE only certainty is uncertainty” for military families hit by the latest round of defence job cuts, army staff in Aldershot have said.

Notices were sent to army personnel on Tuesday, January 22 to advise them of the redundancy threat this summer.

Chris Fletcher, British Army spokesman for Aldershot, said the news had not come as a shock, but regardless of how much warning they had received, it was still difficult for families in already-trying situations.

“When it was first announced, it wasn’t received with any great sense of joy. It’s a hardship for the families who already face a certain degree of uncertainty, with relatives deployed overseas,” he said. “The only certainty is uncertainty. They always expect to move with their jobs, it’s all part and parcel of being a soldier.”

The cuts are the third in a series of four outlined by the government as it tries to reduce the number of army staff by 20,000 by 2020.

“We knew there would be four tranches of redundancies, and roughly 102,000 soldiers would be reduced to 82,000 between 2015 and 2020,” said Mr Fletcher. “In Aldershot the number is fluid, but I suspect we have around 3,000 to 4,000 at any one time, so it’s by far one of the main army towns.

“People were notified that they are in the bracket and eligible to be made redundant, dependent on their skills, their position and what stage they are at in their career.”

Those who received notices will now face a five-month wait to hear whether they will lose their job, but Mr Fletcher said they did not have specifics on which personnel or units would be affected.

The five-year redundancy programme is part of the MoD’s attempt to solve a £38 billion deficit in the defence budget. Redundancy notices for those affected in this latest round will be issued on June 18.

No personnel who are preparing for, serving on, or recovering from deployments on that date will lose their jobs unless they had already applied for redundancy, the MoD has confirmed, but they could be affected by the final round next year.

For more on this story, see this week's News & Mail, out now.

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Most recent user comments 10 of 10

of course i was joking !!!!!

tinks 41
30/01/2013 at 07:34

I agree with your point in principal PJA, but (in my opinion at least) you've picked out a poor example because £21 million isn't very much in the grand scheme of things (a tiny proportion after all of the olympics' budget) and I think richer countries such as ourselves should be helping poorer ones, especially in crises such as in Syria.

However, I don't think we should be giving money away to countries that could afford to protect their own people such as India and Pakistan both with nuclear weapons programs.

BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough
26/01/2013 at 12:53

it will be ok though as they will all get extra government help and be able to stay in their house's as well as getting a really good pension for all of the good work they have done for the country

tinks 41

You have to be joking!!

Family members were told this week they were on redundancy list - been in army for over 12 years - put their lives on the line for the uk - now have no choice have to leave and for a pittance!!.

so what extra goverment help will they get? you tell us then that way they can go and get it??

PJA
26/01/2013 at 09:06

goverment are quick enough giving uk tax payers money out in uk aid to other countries of the world, but when it comes to looking after their own we all have to struggle ?

where is that fair?

read following story:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21208956.

PJA
26/01/2013 at 09:06

You're absolutely right Dawi. Shame on them.

BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough
25/01/2013 at 13:55

BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough “Of course we will bluesy. It's terrible that these soldiers may have to lose their jobs, but unfortunately the govt has decided on cutting public services so every aspect of the public sector should take some of the strain.”

In which case it is a shame that the MP’s haven’t taken a pay cut instead of thinking that they should get a 32% pay increase.

Dawi, Aldershot
25/01/2013 at 10:10

it will be ok though as they will all get extra government help and be able to stay in their house's as well as getting a really good pension for all of the good work they have done for the country

tinks 41
25/01/2013 at 08:03

Of course we will bluesy. It's terrible that these soldiers may have to lose their jobs, but unfortunately the govt has decided on cutting public services so every aspect of the public sector should take some of the strain.

If Cameron gave the order to pull out of Afghanistan, there would be thousands more soldiers ready to protect us from the 'terrorists' and we would know that they'd back home safe at last.

The only thing we'd have to do then is keep out of future wars and who knows the gigantic space on the Armed Forces memorial in Staffordshire waiting for tens of thousands of future dead men's names may never have to be filled.