DON'T SHORTCHANGE OUR TROOPS
September 2, 2009 10:20 AM
Nick Clegg and Nick Harvey with service personnel in Afghanistan
Nick Harvey MP has today called for bold reform on armed forces pay which would see Privates earning £6000 extra per year to put their salary on a more equal footing to that of police constables and fire fighters.
In his role as Liberal Democrat Defence Spokesperson, the local MP has put together proposals which would address the widespread dissatisfaction from across all ranks with the current pay levels and reassert the nation's commitment to the armed forces.
The proposals, launched today [Wednesday 2nd September] by Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg MP, would ensure that no soldier, sailor or airman goes into harm's way on less basic pay than a new recruit to the police or fire service.
Key points include:
· The lowest paid personnel would receive an increase of £6000 - placing them on £22,680 and an equal footing with a development-level fire-fighter new-entrant police constable
· Privates and lance corporals would receive an average annual pay increase of over £3000, with the average annual basic pay across these two ranks rising to around £25,000
· Higher NCO ranks would receive an average annual pay increase of around £1000
At present over 51,000 service personnel are on less than the basic starting salary of a police constable. Of these, 13,000 are on less than £17,000 despite serving on the frontline in Afghanistan. This equates to an average hourly wage for a Private of just £6.74; just £1 above the minimum wage and over £3 less than a newly trained firefighter.
The Liberal Democrats believe this can be rectified by re-aligning defence priorities and using 1% of the defence budget (just £300million) to fund the pay increases. This would be obtained from efficiency savings and natural wastage within the MOD.
Commenting on the proposals, Nick Harvey MP said:
"There is a long history of shamefully low pay for the men and women fighting on the frontline.
I find it shocking that over 51,000 service personnel are on less than a new recruit to the police or fire services at the same time as the MOD has one civilian for every two serviceman with almost 1000 people working in communications alone.
It is time that we rectify this discrepancy and restore the military covenant.
For 1% of the MOD's budget we can give service personnel the recognition they deserve. This will impact not only on the welfare of our forces but also be a boost to morale and go some way to addressing worrying trends in recruitment and retention.
The Government is talking about a new Strategic Defence Review, but it will be fundamentally flawed if service men and women are not placed at the heart of future military considerations."
FURTHER INFORMATION
For more information please visit the Campaign website: http://www.nickclegg.com/armedforcespay/
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