Armed Forces' London Allowance to be stoppped

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...gland-london-16697051

The armed forces' London allowance is to be stopped for all ranks from sergeant and above, this will see a reduction of about £120 a month in their pay.

Is this fair when the armed forces have no choice where they are stationed?

With the Olympics and the Queen's Jubilee taking place this year, many will find themselves transferred to London, for security reasons.

On top of this, many servicemen have lost their jobs, yet not one civil servant in the Ministry of Defence have lost theirs.

I also wonder when are all these cuts going to affect our politicians?

[smart1]

My son, a sergeant, has been a soldier for 13yrs, and did sign up for life. However, he (and many others) is just so fed up of the treatment they get and morale is so low, he is leaving the army. The government are hell bent on getting rid of 'salaried' services to replace them with volunteers (TA etc) but how soon will it be before the employers of he volunteers get ticked off with subsidising the MOD, that they stop employing anyone who is a volunteer service person?

[McMouse]

I don't know the details of this proposal, but certainly needed my London Allowance for the 4 years I served in London. Even with it, the cost of living made things very tight.

[smart1]

What regiment McM?

[anotheoldgit]

redhelen

Blatant error was it?

http://www.politics.c...sque-defence-job-cuts

/// The Commons' defence committee said it would be better to prioritise service personnel in the Ministry of Defence's (MoD) cuts over its civilian staff, whose redundancies will only be
voluntary. ///

[McMouse]

Royal Marines serving in MOD, smart1

[Ankou]

aog, official figures show that 2,500 mod civilian staff have been made redundant.

[anotheoldgit]

Ankou

Have you proof of this figure, and were they compulsory or voluntary?

http://www.dailymail....tml?ito=feeds-newsxml

/// By comparison, not one civil servant has been forced to quit the MoD in the first two redundancy rounds, set to total 15,000 penpushers. Instead, all volunteered to leave.///

[smart1]

Thanks McM - wondered if you were a 'Knightsbridge cowboy' like my son! My stepson was a RM, met a girl and gave it all up (before the Iraq war) after all that hard work and physical pain! But you are McM, it costsn awful lot more to live in London. I was there for 6yrs - still miss it.

[smart1]

What is wrong with my f'in fingers! Meant *you are right, it costs an awful lot more to live in London!

[The-HouseHusband]

The military redundancies were offered on a voluntary basis and they were overwhelmed with applicants, having served 21 years before leaving on a Medical Discharge it is no wonder that so many want the redundancy package.

As for the fact that employers will get fed up with TA soldiers going away every couple of years, the employer is well compensated by the MOD, unfortunately many of the TA needed are specialist roles such as doctors and nurses.

The Olympics will not see a rise in the number of personnel living in London as they have plenty of Garrisons within daily commuting time. Colchester, Tidworth/Bulford and Windsor to name but a few.

No one is safe in their jobs any more and the MOD have to pay for the life saving vehicles and equipment somehow, or would you prefer more repatriation ceremonies??

[Ankou]

aog...

//On top of this, many servicemen have lost their jobs, yet not one civil servant in the Ministry of Defence have lost theirs. //

around 2,500 have been laid off.

just stating the facts against your op. in the op you didn't mention anything about being forcedor volunteering.

and yes, i have seen the statement from defence business services.

[EcclesCake]

I am frequently fascinated by the term 'pen pusher'.

Are the scientists, engineers, etc who conduct research for military programmes penpushers?

Are the scientists, engineers and accountants who assess and procure military equipment from Industry pen pushers?

Are the civil servants who volunteer to go out to theatre to give their specialist knowledge to their military colleagues in the field pen pushers?

Can anyone tell me who these 'pen pushers' are?

[The-HouseHusband]

The only true pen pushers would be the Personnel Assistants (secretaries), however they are more likely to be key board tappers now rather than pen pushers!!

[eyethenkyew]

When I served we had a saying: "Ours is not to reason why".

But it still p***es you off!!!

[anotheoldgit]

Must admit EcclesCake, I don't care for the term 'Pen-Pushers' but according to the urban dictionary:

/// Un-needed, bureaucratic employee not making any difference and hampering efficiency ///

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmWHsPX01Os