Thaindian News

London, Apr.2 (ANI): Britain’s military commanders from the Army and Navy have been told to inform soldiers and sailors currently serving in Afghanistan and Libya that they could be among the 2000 personnel to be made redundant in September.

The Army and Navy will begin the redundancy programme by making lists of the “fields” or groups of personnel whose numbers have to be reduced. Employees potentially at risk have to be informed by their employer.

Those eligible for the redundancy programme, which will start next week, include soldiers currently touring in Afghanistan and sailors, who are aboard submarines and warships in the Mediterranean Sea, supporting operations in Libya.

The Army is planning to remove 1600 uniformed personnel by the end of the summer, while the Navy is looking to make 561 redundancies. The sackings are part of a long-term plan to reduce the strength of both services by a total of 12000 staff over the next three years.
“It is inevitable there will be disharmony when you are making targeted sackings across the board,” the Telegraph quoted a Navy source as saying.

Ministers had promised earlier that no one serving in Afghanistan would be sacked because of the cuts announced in last year’s defence review.

Andrew Robathan, the Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, had earlier said: “That we have to make any Armed Forces personnel redundant is deeply regrettable and a consequence of the dire economic situation and appalling deficit in the defence budget that we inherited. On the dates redundancy notices are issued no personnel preparing for, deployed on, or returning from combat operations and in receipt of post-tour leave will be made compulsorily redundant.”
Although it is not certain that those deployed in the Mediterranean and Afghanistan will be sacked, commanders fear that making front line personnel eligible for redundancies will seriously harm the morale of the soldiers. (ANI)