Army job loss e-mails: Soldiers get apology

Gestart door Lex, 15/02/2011 | 13:31 uur

Lex

The Army has apologised after a reported 38 soldiers learned they were losing their jobs by e-mail.

The Sun said the men - all long-serving warrant officers and including one working in Afghanistan - were told they were victims of the defence cuts.

The Army has said sorry for any distress caused, adding that commanding officers have since given advice and support to them all.
Defence Secretary Liam Fox said he was furious and promised an investigation.

"This is no way to treat our armed forces personnel. I want to know how this was allowed to happen and what measures will be put in place to prevent this from happening again," he said, in a statement.

The Sun said the soldiers each received a message giving them one year's notice and advising them to "start planning your resettlement".

It said the warrant officers included a Royal Tank Regiment veteran who was working on the front line in Afghanistan when he received the redundancy notice.

All of the soldiers have completed several decades' service and continued in the Army on a rolling contract called the long service list.

The e-mails should have gone to the men's commanding officers, who would normally deliver such sensitive news face-to-face. Instead, the Army Personnel Centre sent them directly to the soldiers on 11 January.

Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey said a "serious administrative error" had been made.

"People should have been seen individually and then an e-mail would follow with the details," he said.

"Unfortunately in this case, it's happened the other way around. It's a bad mistake and I apologise, the ministry and the Army all apologise for this."

Conservative MP and former Army officer Patrick Mercer said he was "extremely disappointed" by the soldiers' treatment.

"It would be bad enough to treat any soldier like this. But these men are 22-year long-serving senior non-commissioned officers - the backbone of the Army.

"And to be dumped by e-mail - it's the sort of thing you might expect from a playground romance, not a 22-year contract with Her Majesty's armed forces."

Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said the soldiers had been treated in a "callous, cold-hearted, soulless" way.

RAF cuts due
"We can't halt every redundancy in the armed forces, but this is no way to treat men and women who have served their country fearlessly for so many years," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Sacking anybody by e-mail is wrong, but sacking our armed forces in this way is absolutely unforgivable."

Meanwhile, up to 100 RAF trainee pilots - a quarter of the total - are expected to be told on Tuesday they have to leave.

Up to 20 fast jet pilots, 30 helicopter pilots and 50 transport aircraft pilots are said to be facing the axe because of defence cuts.

Plans are to reduce RAF personnel by about 5,000 to a total of about 33,000 by 2015.

The MoD has said any reductions would not affect operations in Afghanistan and "priority areas of capability" would not be compromised.

'Protection step change'
Last October, the government's strategic defence and security review (SDSR) outlined cuts of £4.7bn over four years.

Unveiling the review, Prime Minister David Cameron said defence spending would fall by 8% in that period.

He said it was not a "cost-saving exercise" but a "step change in the way we protect this country's security interests".

Some 42,000 defence jobs will be cut by 2015 - including 25,000 civilian staff at the MoD, 7,000 in the Army and 5,000 in the Royal Navy as well as the RAF.

BBC News,
15 February 2011 Last updated at 11:18 GMT