AFC0011

Written evidence submitted by JP PRIEST.

I have served for 30 years in the military as both a regular and a reserve. Iam currently a Full Time Reservist in the Royal Air Force. Although I have an immediate pension from my regular service I only receive around a third of it due to policy. The policy prevents me from earning more than I did as a regular. As a Full Time Reservist I earn less than a regular as I am not required to deploy on operations, I am  employed for my specialist skills and consistency in a particular role. The rest of my pay is made up from my pension to that of a regular, anything over this capped amount is just evaporated.

If I were to have a civilian job I would get all of my pension, if I were to join any other public service such as the NHS, Police or as a Teacher, again I would get all my pension. It does seem unfair that a pension that a I I have accrued is taken off me because I chose to join back up into a military reserve role.

If the purpose of this is to prevent personnel leaving to work in FTRS posts and get their pensions once they qualify, then it has failed in my situation as I was told to leave the service due to the RAF not continuing to sign me on any further at the end of my engagement.

If the purpose of this is to avoid disparity of pay amongst the same ranks then this again fails as we have many different grades of pay within the same rank depending on time served and specialist training.

The pension itself has change considerable since the formation of Full Time Reservists posts and a review of abating pensions should be conducted in order to fairly attribute Full Time Reservist personnel their pensions they have earned over their careers. Thank you.

15th January 2025