BBC: MPs brand compulsory armed forces job cuts ‘grotesque’

MPs have said it is “grotesque” that 40% of armed forces redundancies have been compulsory, while no civilian staff have been forced out of a job.

The Commons defence committee queried whether the terms on offer to military personnel were “fair or appropriate” given the “shocking” difference.

It also said not enough was being done to retrain, rather than sack, troops.

Defence Minister Philip Hammond said the MPs were wrong and personnel were given “every opportunity” to retrain.

Some 11,000 servicemen and 25,000 civilian Ministry of Defence (MoD) staff are being made redundant as part of government efforts to deal with the £38bn black hole in the defence budget.

But the defence committee has been told that of the 2,860 military personnel laid off last year, about two in five were made compulsorily redundant.

In contrast, the first two phases of civilian redundancies were all done on a voluntary basis.

Read more on the BBC website