Army pension injustice must be reversed, MPs urge
Read the Testimonies of Family Members of The Unpensionables – What they feel about the treatment of their partners, sons, brothers.
Wife of Unpensionable
As the wife of an Army major being made redundant in June 2012 I can only say that I am disgusted and angry by the treatment we have received. My husband will be just a few weeks from reaching his immediate pension point and we are being cheated out of a significant sum of money, although this has never been acknowledged by the Goverment. Yes, we will receive a lump sum but this is nowhere near what my husband would have received if he were allowed to work those few extra weeks. I have given up years of my life supporting my husband through his postings, moving to two different countries and various locations in England. I have not been able to sustain my professional career as a result of these moves and so my wage earnings and my pension contributions have had to suffer as a result of my husband’s job; moving for postings is a requirement of his job…the needs of the Army always come first, the family second. The expectation from us has been that the significant financial disadvantages (amongst all the other social, family and emotional disadvantages) of being a military family would be recompensed by the pension my husband would receive when he left. This pension would allow him to gain a mortgage and would provide a small level of financial security at a time when he would need to start out on a second career, it would also help make up for my effective loss of pension. This is what my husband was promised when he signed up all those years ago…and he was not told anything different until the redundancies started recently.
Our world and plans have been taken away from us. My husband will have no job, no house and no pension next year. He has a family to support and he has done nothing wrong. He has served numerous extremely dangerous tours of duty during his time in the Army. I have suffered years of struggling on my own with small children asking “where is daddy?” when he has been away on tour. How are we being repaid for these difficult years of LOYAL SERVICE? Those in high level Government and Army positions are demonstrating an extreme lack of moral courage in standing up for solider’s rights and paying them what they deserve for their loyalty. There is absolutely no sign of the military covenant being upheld.
Unfortunately, I am not surprised that my husband and his cohort, along with other long serving members of the army, have been targeted for redundancy. These groups were identified by the MOD as they are obviously close to reaching pensionable age. This was done months before the actual names of people were selected. The names did not matter to the MOD…just the money…the maximum they can save. Very crafty tactics, carried out with smoke and mirrors so people do not notice. I am sure those adding up the figures worked out long ago that stopping people reaching pension points, even by days, makes big savings…. What those people did not consider was the unique moral agreements that were promised and that these promises now mean nothing. A solider can still be asked to give up his or her life in the line or duty…the solider should just not expect any financial agreements to be honoured by the MOD in return.
Remember, there are two massive rounds of redundancies to come…what is allowed to happen this time will only be expanded on next time to save even more money. Civil servants will get gongs for saving the most money they can….military families will be the ones to really suffer
Please Sign the Petition: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/35949
Wife of unpensionable
“Devastated, insulted and complete disbelief. It was not just the implementation of a policy it was complete betrayal. We were not opposed to the redundancy policy but the manner and the lack of consideration into the pension issue was simply unbelievable. To rub salt into the wound the lack of understanding by those who apparently ordered the policy and continued ignorance by those who could rectify it is equal to cowardice. These are supposedly the leaders of our military and government, they preach values and standards and say it is for the best yet they target some of the most battle hardened soldiers since WW2 quoting policy and rules as reasons why they can not change their minds. It’s about time they showed a bit of moral integrity and did what is right.
The implications are massive. No pension equals no stability. The pension is the key funding for securing a mortgage on discharge. It is what we have all planned for. Without it schools, house options and future employment options have all been thrown in the air, We have now had to reassess our future.
All we want is the award of the pension or the opportunity to serve until we reach it.”
Please Sign the Petition: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/35949
Wife of Unpensionable
When I found out how much my husband would lose financially I felt ashamed of how he had been treated by a government who would expect him to make the ultimate sacrifice if necessary, I feel he has been betrayed. I was extremely apprehensive about our financial future as a family particularly as I had left my job to accompany him on a posting to Cyprus and we had a 6 month old daughter.
We will be greatly financially disadvantaged by this decision. We were under the impression that …….. pension would compensate for my massively reduced pension and greatly reduced earning power, both of which have resulted from my accompanying him in his work during our married lives. We are considering moving abroad, the sense of betrayal we both feel as a result of my husband’s redundancy is a large deciding factor in this. If we stay in the UK we will probably have to sell our family home in order to move to an area where we can both find work.
I would like my husband to be able to serve on in the army until he qualifies for his pension. Alternatively I would like my husband to receive the proportion of his pension to which he is entitled (over 95%) from the date he is made redundant.
Please Sign the Petition: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/35949
Mother of Unpensionable
| 1. What did you feel when you realised how much your son was going to lose in terms of pension? Shock, horror that the Army could disregard their covenant with the Forces by making redundant senior war-experienced officers within one year of pension qualification. 2. How is this going to impact on his family life? Having signed on as a regular (until 55 years of age) his family’s dreams and aspirations have been shattered. No consideration has been given to family welfare i.e. schooling, their daughter will have attended 4 primary schools and is not yet 7 yrs. old and 7 moves in 8 years of marriage. 3. What do you want done about it? Extend service so as to complete 16 years OR reduce qualifying period to 15 years. |
Sister of Unpensionable
The impact of my brother’s redundancy across the whole family has been huge – we are a small, close family, so what affects him affects us all. My feelings have swayed between shock, anger that he can be treated like this, frustration that no one seems to care and relief that perhaps he is better off out of the whole system.
I am a primary school teacher, therefore not overly familiar of the army’s procedures, but have seen my brother give the army his best, and at times, his family have suffered from this. I know he has not done it to get special thanks, but now the way he is being treated, it is not what he signed up for. Goalposts have been moved with no warning or discussion.
The impact now for his 2 young children, is that their schooling is going to be disrupted during the school academic year YET again, and they are both only young. Being a teacher myself, there is a limited as to how often a child can move schools with little disruption. Why should the children suffer due to poor decisions made by other people?
I think the decent thing would be for my brother and his colleagues is to receive their full pension entitlement, as a minimum, with some compensation for the disruption that is has caused all families – at the very least.
Please Sign the Petition: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/35949
Parents of Unpensionable
First of all may I say that it was not the question of our sons loss of pension which caused us immediate concern,it was the fact the career that he trained and planed for from his days at school through his times in the army cadet force, ………… university OTC and Sandhurst at the end of which he was offered a regular commission had been taken from him.
It was after this initial shock that we appreciated how much our son was going to miss out financialy, because he was 206 days short of sixteen years attributable service.
Our son feels devistated and betrayed by the loss of the career to which he was dedicated. But as his parents also feel apprehensive as to the financial loss that will be suffered by our son,wife and two small children. Surely this will have signifcant effect on the recruitment of high quality personel to the services in the future?
If the attributable service was changed to fifteen years in this case it would perhaps ameliorate the financial loss to be suffered but will of course not reduce the distress caused by a ruined career. Perhaps in these days of computers it would not be beyond the wit of man to calculate graduated pensions for those who have been cast aside after having commited themselves to the service of their country?
Please Sign the Petition: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/35949
In-laws of Unpensionable
In-laws of unpensionable
1. Angry and dismayed at the nasty cheap efforts by which the Tories are trying to save money and upset at the impact that it will have on my son-in-law and his young family.
2. Makes the future very uncertain after a period of stability whilst serving and concern for future employment. This is not a good time to be forced to leave given the economic climate and jobs prospects.
3. A total re-think on defence policy which is not strategic, focussing on all aspects of military cutbacks in what are uncertain times
Father of Unpensionable
1. What did you feel when you realised how much you/your son/grandson etc was going to lose in terms of pension?
I was and am thoroughly disgusted with the Government, the Ministry of Defence [Uniformed and Civilian] and the senior management of the Army who think they can without a care deprive personnel of what they were promised in their “terms of engagement” on joining the Army.
2. How is this going to impact on his/her/family lives?
At the outset they have to cope with the turmoil of being made redundant but that is something they will deal with as competent people. But the main problem will be the loss of finance which they will almost certainly have planned to use to maintain their standard of living and to deal with the unknown at this time of great financial difficulty for all and with unemployment running at over 2 million. Future employment is by no means certain, indeed it is a great concern for all.
3. What do you want done about it?
I have already registered my concerns with my local MP – Mrs Claire Perry. I have had a reply from her with a letter from Alan Nisbet the Private Secretary to Andrew Robathan MP. I do not believe that Claire Perry understands anything about what is going on and her letter to me misses the specific point about the pension issue. As one might expect she offers help but not in any meaningful way and blames all the financial ills on the last government! Similarly the pension issue is sidelined in Mr Nisbet’s letter. I attach copies of them all.
I would like to see a positive stand made by all those affected and a clear message passed to the government. As we know the Chancellor has had to back down on a number of ill conceived ideas in the past 2 years so he needs to do so again. I think we should also be mindful of what is going on in the RN and RAF, do they have similar problems? If so then everyone should join together over this.
I am very happy for you to use my name etc. As a retired Naval Officer I am in receipt of my Naval Pension and I see that this Robathan fellow’s title is ‘Minister for Defence Personnel Welfare and Veterans’, he should be warned that should he start to meddle Veterans’ pensions he may find himself in even deeper water!
If I can assist in any way please let me know.
With kind regards and thanks, wishing you every success in your mission,
Ian S H Richards
Commander Royal Navy [Rtd
Please Sign the Petition: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/35949
Listen to Families of Unpensionables talking about their situation
Monday, August 27, 2012
BBC Radio Five Live: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01m5j8b Interview is approx 1hr into the programme and lasts about 10 mins. (Story about a Lion on the Loose in Essex used up most of our alloted time!!!)
Listen to the Programme which interviews families of The Unpensionables
Comment by listener to the programme: by Ms Maggie O’Brien of Tottenham
The case of the unpensionables is yet another example of the Prime Minister leading by example. Sadly, the example he is giving to young people is that it’s ok to break your promise. Young army officers signed up on the understanding of a pension after 16 years’ service. They kept their side of the bargain, serving in dire conditions and putting their lives on the line every day. Their families have to make enormous sacrifices, supporting their partners often by putting their own careers on hold, and living with the constant fear that they might be injured or killed in active service.
If you believe the spin, this honourable service is welcomed by the government. To evidence this, in July of this year David Cameron visited Camp Bastion in Afghanistan and said
“I value our armed services enormously, the whole country does”
If you value someone, you keep your promises, regarding the contract that both sides signed up to, and honour the officers’ pensions. The current redundancy decision, and the timing of these, which would appear to be a deliberate cost-cutting tactic, has cost officers and their families HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF POUNDS.
I would suggest to Cameron that the way you prove you value the armed services, is to stop spouting platitudes and start listening to the families. He could start by reading the Times of Friday 24 August, where families of Army officers have been interviewed and express feeling “betrayed, disgusted, angry, cheated and devastated.” David Cameron said in July, “I’m able to look all the Armed Forces in the eye”, I would like to call his bluff and put him in a room for half an hour with army family members such as Jayne and Mary Bullock and Laura Richards. I doubt that he could meet their gaze, but he would hopefully recognise a sharp contrast to his own spin, as their testaments are searing, genuine, eloquent, convincing, and above all, JUST. Look and Learn Prime Minister.
If indeed a genuine mistake has been made by the Defence Secretary, who has already admitted that his evidence to the Defence Select Committee was wrong, then David Cameron and the government now have a great opportunity to lead by example, and show young people that when you make an error, you ‘man up’ and put things right. I believe that they should apologise to the military and their families and immediately review and rectify this shameful situation.
So, it’s over to you David …
PLEASE SIGN the Parliamentary epetition and get the Unpensionables cases reviewed:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/35949
MoD condemned by all sides in row over soldiers’ pensions
Sign the Parliamentary epetition: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/35949
by Deborah Haynes – Defence Editor of The Times – 25 August 2012
The Unpensionables: army wives rail at timing of redundancies
Mary Bullock, 73, said that she was devastated when her son, another major, with a wife and three children, was told that he would lose his job. “Considering that he has done so many different tours to Afghanistan, I would have thought they would look after those people a bit better.”
Scandal of soldiers denied a pension – The Times 24 Aug 2012
By Deborah Haynes – Defence Editor of The Times
Please sign the Parliamentary epetition: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/35949
The families of long-serving Army officers have urged the Defence Secretary to reverse a decision that will cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost pensions.
The Times leader – 24 August 2012
The Unpensionables
Redundancy months shy of a pension is no way to uphold the military covenant
Nobody joins the Army to get rich, although pension provision for service personnel has traditionally been among the most generous in the public sector. Yet those in the Armed Forces are not quite like any other in the public sector. Too often the Ministry of Defence appears to treat with callous indifference those who offer their lives in service. Through tactlessness and inertia, this appears to be happening once again.
Under current rules, soon to change for new entrants, officers become eligible for an immediate pension after 16 years of service.The Times reports today that numerous officers and lower ranks — about 80 this year and more next year — are being made redundant mere months or weeks away from this date.
This means that families who may have planned lives around a future with a guaranteed income, albeit a modest one, must re-plan their lives without. Any employee who saw goalposts moving thus would have a legitimate grievance. For officers, this occurs after a 16-year period during which more British soldiers have seen more action than at any point since the Second World War. Lower ranks facing redundancy must have served for 18 years to qualify for a pension.
Protesting against this decision, a group of army families have dubbed themselves “The Unpensionables”. They include wives who have followed their husbands around the world, with their own careers on hold. In the words of one: “The expectation from us has been that the significant financial disadvantages of being a military family would be recompensed by the pension my husband would receive when he left.”
Some of those affected believe themselves to have been singled out for redundancy specifically because of their proximity to pensionable age. The MoD denies this, but it cannot be denied that Whitehall has displayed a startling lack of tact.
Giving evidence to the Defence Select Committee last year, Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, reported that the time served before officers became eligible for a pension had been cut to 15 years. Last week, he is understood to have written to the chairman of that committee, explaining that this was the case only for officers who had joined up at the age of 18. These do not sound like the careful deliberations of a department putting troops first.
At a time of universal cuts, it is hard to dispute that the Armed Forces must bear their share. But Britain has a covenant towards the military dating back to the time of Elizabeth I. Earlier this yearThe Times reported that the MoD was considering making draconian cuts to army housing for married couples. From the crash of an RAF Nimrod in 2006 to numerous deaths and injuries in Snatch Land Rovers in Afghanistan, too often MoD cost savings have run wholly to the detriment of the wellbeing of people who lay down their lives for the country.
These eleventh-hour redundancies affect a relatively small number of people and will save a relatively small amount of money. But the effect on a few lives will be enormous. As veterans, they and their families deserve better. If the MoD cannot allow them to work until they become eligible for an immediate pension, a meaningful compensation scheme must be established. When people are prepared to offer their lives for Britain, Britain should treat those lives with more respect.
The Shocking Tale of the “Unpensionables”
The Unpensionables
On the 12 June 2012, the MoD made 3000 service personnel redundant. My brother was one of them. He, like many others, (eighty according to recent reports), was made redundant within a year of reaching his immediate pension point – 82 days short to be precise, having served three tours on the front line, the second of which saw him waving goodbye to his wife , twins of two and month old baby son. (That may sound like someone getting all emotional about an issue. And it is. This is my kid brother who is being treated unfairly and concerns the welfare of my sister-in-law and my niece and nephews. The cuts just got personal.) A small number within this group, in typical army style, have already coined a collective noun for themselves, summing up their predicament beautifully…”The Unpensionables”.
Now, I wasn’t particulary happy about my little brother joining up. But I recognised that this was the job he had always wanted to do. I watched him play at soldiers, go to cubs, scouts and then cadets…polishing his boots for hours ….ironing his trouser creases….tripping over his big bag of kit when he was home from a weekend yomping on some windswept, muddy moor, (my idea of hell!)….then the TA….then university, finally earning his place at Sandhurst.
I appreciate now the hardwork and dedication it took to get his place there without any external help or family influence. Sheer hardwork and determination. So whilst I wouldn’t have chosen this career for myself, I certainly understood how much it meant to him. The camaraderie, the challenges and yes accepting the possibility and responsibility of being asked to take another human being’s life or risk your own.
When he and his fellow officers first graduated from Sandhurst they were all young men doing the job they loved and probably didn’t really concern themselves with the thought of pension points and the like. However, as the years went by, they got married, had families, and the pension point became something of a milestone to reach, particularly when on active service and in planning their lives and the lives of their families when they eventually left the army.
Blackadder returns
At the back of my mind, I believed the modern British Army rhetoric. This was a professional army. An army that took on the best and promoted the best. An army that looked after the welfare of its men and women and their families. Then this happened. Deemed surplus to requirements within a whisker of achieving the pension point he had been working towards and which he had signed a covenant of service for, a covenant he had agreed to risk his life for, again and again and again.
How could this happen in an army which professes to repect and honour its soldiers? Should I really be surprised given the fact our politicians have been so quick to send our armed forces to war? Now so quick to get rid of them as a cost cutting exercise? Where is the committment to the army covenant now? Where are the Honourable men and women of Parliament now? Who is standing up to say this is wrong, wrong, wrong, clearly, morally, wrong. What are the senior “gold braid” army generals doing about this shoddy treatment of the men and women they have commanded and sent into battle zones to risk their lives?
It feels like a return to the bad old days where the senior officers, and politicians back home, sat in their comfortable bunkers or cabinet offices, sipping on champagne and nibbling on their foie gras as they sent the troops over the top. Think Blackadder, but without the laughs. This time its “over the top” and “on yer bike” and down to the the dole queue, given that these men and women are being sent back to a civvy street conjested with high unemployment.
The Military Covenant – ripped up
‘Soldiers differ from civilian employees because success in military operations, when the price of failure may be death, requires the subordination of the rights of the individual to the needs of the task and the team, albeit within a legal framework.’ (MoD, 2000)
The Military Covenant is an unspoken pact between the military and society. A covenant is not a law, but an understanding reinforced by custom and convention (MoD, 2000, Sparrow, 2008). In the United Kingdom, the term has received increased attention following the publication of ‘Soldiering – The Military Covenant’ by the Ministry of Defence in April 2000 which formally codified it. This has generated discussion of the extent to which the government and society at large have maintained their responsibilities to the nation’s Armed Forces (Military Covenant Commission, 2008). The Covenant has received attention not least because of Britain’s long term engagement in Iraq, and its continual presence in Afghanistan.
Now, whether you agree with government foreign policy or not. Whether we should be meddling in unwinable wars in Afghanistan or the Middle East or not. For me, this is simply a case of fairness, natural justice and upholding the military covenant my brother and his colleagues signed up for some 16 years ago. This is about ensuring fair treatment for the men and women who serve the nation. Whether it be , fighting our wars, or policing our Olympics.
For those in the army these pension points are extremely important. They are the constants towards which they work and they are the payback for their families who worry about them on tours of duty and how they are going to mange financially when they eventually leave for civvy street.
Clearly we live in difficult financial times. Many people are being made redundant in different industries and in different sectors. However, I don’t know of any other job that you sign up for a set amount of time, and agree to risk your life in exchange for certain pay and conditions. There is definitely a case to be made as to why these army redundancies are “different” to civilian redundancies and why the pension issue is of such crucial importance.
What can be done about this unfair situation?
I believe these redundancies do not honour the military covenant or original employment contract between soldier and the MoD. These men and women, including my brother, have all faithfully served in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces and repeatedly risked their lives on different tours of duty, with the expectation that, when they completed their period of service, they would be eligible for a pension on which to build a new life for themselves and their families. To rip up their contracts, days and months before their immediate pension point is neither fair nor just, surely two of the very principles we placed our service men and women in harms way to uphold. Given future planned redundancies in the forces this issue is likely to affect many more service personnel.
The men and women in the army are unable to protest, bound as they are by army rules. This does not stop their friends and families and right-minded members of the public from doing so on their behalf.
I believe this is a winnable battle. If we can raise enough votes, get MP’s listening, we can have these cases reviewed and this wrong righted. Morale within the armed forces is at an all time low because of these cuts. And its going to get lower and lower if the redundancies are not handled with openess and fairness. Please sign the petition if you agree and pass on to your friends and family to do the same. Every vote counts. Thankyou.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/35949
