Further memorandum from the Ministry of
Defence on the role of the reserves in Operation Telic (October
2003)
In advance of the evidence session on 22 October,
the House of Commons Defence Committee asked for further information
regarding the use of reserves during Operation Telic. This information
is set out below.
RESERVE CATEGORIES—OPERATION
TELIC
The Reserves are divided into two parts: the
Reserve Forces and those individuals with a recall liability (eg
pensioners and the Long Term Reserve). Only the Reserve Forces
were involved in Operation Telic. The Reserve Forces may be divided
into two parts, the Volunteer Reserve Forces and the Regular Reserve
Forces.
Volunteer Reserve Forces. Personnel of the Volunteer
Reserve Forces are members of the public who voluntarily undertake
military training, for which they are paid, in their free time.
In return they accept a liability for call out as individuals
or in military units when required to supplement the regular armed
forces for military operations. Membership is age limited. They
total around 45,000 people, some of whom may be former regular
servicemen and women. They are members of:
— Royal Naval Reserve (RNR)
— Royal Marines Reserve (RMR)
— Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF)
Members of all these forces were called out
for Op Telic.
Regular Reserve Forces
Personnel of the Regular Reserve Forces incur
a liability for reserve service as a result of previously completed
regular service. This liability is limited by total length of
service and typically lasts for three years for Royal Naval ratings
and Royal Marine other ranks transferred from the RN or RM respectively
and six years for other ranks from the Army or RAF, or until a
total of 22 years of regular service and subsequent reserve liability
has been completed, which ever comes first. They are members of:
— The Royal Fleet Reserve (RFR): former
Royal Navy and Royal Marine regulars
— The Army Reserve: former Army regulars
— The RAF Reserve (RAFR): former RAF
regulars
In addition, each Regular Reserve Force has
a component comprising of volunteers who are mainly, but not wholly,
ex-regulars who have voluntarily extended their reserve liabilities.
Only members of the Army Reserve and RAF Reserve were called out
for Op Telic.
Sponsored Reserves
Special members of the Reserve Forces (Sponsored
Reserves) work for a civilian employer who has entered into a
contract with MoD to provide a support function under normal conditions
when a civilian workforce can be used and during operations when
a military workforce must be used. Therefore, a condition of each
contract is that a proportion of the workforce must be capable
of being called out for full time service and they must therefore
be members of a Reserve Force. There are currently five Sponsored
Reserve contracts in place. Length and frequency of call out is
governed by the terms of the contractor's agreement with MoD.
Depending on the contract of service, Sponsored Reserves' conditions
of service may differ from other reservists; for example, they
may remain on civilian rates of pay.
6. For Operation Telic a small number of
Sponsored Reserves were called-out for service with:
— Strategic Sealift—Ro Ro ferries
(RN)
— Mobile Meteorological Unit (RAF)
— providing engineering support for
32 (Royal) Sqn RAF
Sponsored Reserves from the Army's Heavy Equipment
Transport project are in the process of being called-out.
MOBILISED RESERVISTS/APPLICATIONS
FOR EXEMPTION
AND DEFERRAL
7. As at 10 October 7,734 reservists had
been mobilised to support Op Telic. A breakdown by Service of
reservists mobilised for Op Telic is detailed below. However,
in the time available it has not been possible to differentiate
between Regular, Volunteer and Sponsored Reserves.
|
| Reservists Mobilised
|
| TELIC 1
| TELIC 2 | TELIC 3
| Demobilised | Remain in
Service
|
|
| RN | 292 |
67 | 0
| 278 | 81
|
| RM | 112 |
0 | 0
| 110 | 2
|
| Army | 3,787
| 2,143 | 199
| 3,529 | 2,600
|
| RAF | 1,030 |
104 | 0
| 772 | 362
|
| Total | 5,221
| 2,314 | 199
| 4,689 | 3,045
|
|
With regard to average length of mobilised service, no specific
figure has been calculated. To do so would require accessing individual
service records to establish a figure. This could only be done
at excessive cost. What we can say is that the period of mobilised
service for Volunteer and Regular Reserves on Operation Telic
has generally been four to six months deployed in theatre preceded
by a period of pre-deployment training and followed by post-deployment
administration and leave (this is dependent on how long the individual
was deployed in theatre). This equates to a total of up to seven
to nine months.
However, it must be appreciated that, in some cases (such
as the key enablers mobilised early on in Operation Telic) the
period of mobilisation was shorter and in others (where their
skills were required immediately after the conflict to aid in
the stabilisation and reconstruction), the period of mobilisation
may have been longer. In addition, a number of reservists have
voluntarily extended their period of mobilised service.
On revocation and deferral, the Reserve Forces Act 1996 provides
a number of safeguards including the right to seek revocation,
exemption from or deferral of call-out. Reservists or employers
may seek exemption from or deferral of call-out. An appropriately
trained Adjudication Officer approves each application for a revocation,
exemption from or deferral of call-out only after careful consideration.
Generally a revocation is only given either when we find the reservist
is surplus to requirements or if it is discovered that the individual
is suffering from an injury or ill health. Therefore, it is mainly
requests for exemption from or deferral of call-out that we deal
with. The numbers of applications for exemption and deferral are
detailed at Annex A. However, as we treat all reservists equally,
there has never been a need to break the figures down other than
by Service. To do so would require a trawl of individual records
which would be both time consuming and costly.
OP TELIC—NOTICE
TO REPORT
Notice to report for compulsory call-out is set by operational
requirements. Ideally we would aim to give both regular reservists
and volunteer reservists 21 days notice to report for service,
but this cannot always be achieved. For Telic One, in order to
ensure the reserves were ready in time, generally we were only
able to give 14 days notice to report. However, in some instances
notice to report was considerably shorter. In the main this was
due to postal problems or short notice changes in requirement,
but for operational reasons we were unable to avoid mobilising
a number of key enablers soon after the call-out order was made.
For Telic Two and Three, in general we have been able to
give reservists 21 days notice to report. Again, this could not
be guaranteed and a small number of reservists received a shorter
notice to report due mainly to last minute changes to operational
requirements.
As the Operation matures and planning can be carried further
in advance, we hope to move to 30 days notice to report for Operation
Telic. However, it must be understood that there will always be
last minute changes of requirement and/or operational circumstances
which means that we cannot guarantee a set notice to report period
for reservists.
PAY AND
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
FOR RESERVISTS
When called out, reservists receive the same rates of pay
and are generally entitled to the same allowances as their regular
counter-parts. Thus, they must meet the same eligibility criteria.
The pay system used is identical to that used for the Regular
Forces.
In addition to military pay and allowances, all reservists
who were mobilised prior to 1 April 2003 received a tax-free call-out
gratuity of £395, after that date this was increased to £420.
Also, under the provisions of the Reserve Forces Act 1996, any
reservists whose military salary is less than their civilian earnings
may apply for financial assistance. Details of how to claim this
assistance are included in the call-out pack sent to reservists.
The regulations governing the provision of financial assistance
are set out in Statutory Instrument 1997, No. 309, The Reserve
Forces (Call-out and Recall)(Financial Assistance) Regulations
(SI309/97). This consists of a Reservists Standard Award (RSA)
that is calculated on the difference between civilian and military
salaries. The amount that may be awarded is limited within set
bands related to rank and specialism. However, it should be noted
RSA does not, and never was intended to, match civilian salaries
pound for pound. The banded rates are set out below:
| Band | Rank or category
| Band maximum
(per annum)
|
| 1 | The rank of Corporal and below
| £22,500 |
| 2 | Warrant Officer and Senior Non-Commissioned Officer or, in the case of an officer, any rank below the rank of Major
| £37,500 |
| 3 | The rank of Major or Lieutenant Colonel
| £55,500 |
| 4 | The rank of Colonel or Brigadier or a member of specialist category I (medical officers and aircrew)
| £70,000 |
| 5 | The rank of Major General and above or a member of specialist category II (consultants)
| £153,000 |
The fact that RSA is linked to military rank and specialism
is important to note. For example, an individual who is a TA infantry
soldier will qualify for a lower RSA than one who is a TA doctor.
Therefore, the role that people play in the Reserves is directly
linked to the RSA award irrespective of qualifications or career
in civilian life.
If a Standard Award is insufficient to avert serious financial
difficulties, a reservist can also apply for a Reservists Hardship
Award (RHA) to cover essential outgoings such as mortgage repayments,
school fees, childcare costs etc. Hardship Awards are calculated
on essential expenditure rather than actual earnings and there
is no financial limit on the amount that may be awarded.
Those who are self employed may make a claim both in their
capacity as a reservist and as an employer. For example, a GP
could claim payments to cover the cost of locums and other additional
training costs to the practice arising from call-out. Again, SI
309/97 sets out the regulations governing Employer Standard and
Hardship Awards.
All financial assistance is paid only while the individual
reservist is mobilised. Once the individual has been demobilised,
the payments cease.
Should a reservist be dissatisfied with the MoD's decision
in any given case, they have a right to appeal to an independent
Reserve Forces Appeals Tribunal. This is an independent forum
administered by the Employment Tribunals Service. It takes the
form of an independent tribunal consisting of a chairman and two
lay members who will sit and hear evidence from both parties before
making a decision.
It is important to note that the MoD and the Reservist concerned
can continue to negotiate an agreed outcome before the tribunal
sits and it is often the case that such agreement is met prior
to a hearing.
For the combat phase of Op Telic (Telic One) no reservist
made an appeal against MoD on financial grounds. We have since
received nine financial appeals, one of which has been withdrawn.
One has been heard by a tribunal which found in favour of MoD.
A further seven appeals are yet to be heard.
UK OPERATIONAL EMPLOYMENT
OF RESERVISTS
In the time available it has not been possible to collate
information regarding the numbers of reservists by category and
service deployed on operations from Operation GRANBY to date.
This information is not centrally held and would take some considerable
time to compile. However, we have been able to compile figures
detailing the number of reservists called-out per year from 1996
onwards. These figures are detailed in the table below.
Prior to 2002, all call-outs were voluntary (shown as "V"
in the table below). The first compulsory call-out under RFA 96
(shown as "C" in the table below) started with Op VERITAS
in 2002.
Prior to 2002 it is not possible to distinguish between categories
of Reserve: Volunteer Reserve Forces or Regular Reserve Forces.
However, Army figures up to and including 2001 primarily show
call-out for service in former Yugoslavia. Figures broadly three
to one: TA to Army Regular Reserve.
| | Royal Navy/
Royal Marines
| Army | Royal
Air Force
|
| 1996 | 5 |
1,857 | 36
|
| 1997 | 3 |
962 | 11
|
| 1998 | 9 |
752 | 74
|
| 1999 | 15 |
1,153 | 235
|
| 2000 | 34 |
776 | 312
|
| 2001 | 65 |
684 | 166
|
ONLY VOLUNTEERS FOR CALL OUT PRIOR TO THIS POINT
| 2002 | 501 (V) | Op VERITAS etc.165 (C)
Other:781 (V)
| Op VERITAS etc 86 (C)
Other: 187 (V) |
| 2003 (to date) | Op TELIC359 (C)
Other:5 (C)
| Op TELIC 5925 (C)
Other: 187 (C)
386 (V)
| Op TELIC1177 (C) |
(C) Compulsory Call Out
(V) Volunteers for Call Out
APPLICATIONS FOR EXEMPTION AND DEFFERAL
|
| Application | TELIC 1
| TELIC 2 | TELIC 3
| Total |
|
| RN Reservist | |
| | |
| Exemption | 8
| 0 | 0
| 8 |
| Deferral | 7
| 0 | 0
| 7 |
| RN Employer | |
| | |
| Exemption | 12
| 4 | 0
| 16 |
| Deferral | 3
| 1 | 0
| 4 |
| RM Reservist | |
| | |
| Exemption | 7
| 0 | 0
| 7 |
| Deferral | 3
| 0 | 0
| 3 |
| RM Employer | |
| | |
| Exemption | 6
| 0 | 0
| 6 |
| Deferral | 5
| 0 | 0
| 5 |
| Army Reservist | |
| | |
| Exemption | 1,000
| 432 | 36
| 1,468 |
| Deferral | 13
| 22 | 4
| 39 |
| Army Employer | |
| | |
| Exemption | 758
| 347 | 35
| 1,140 |
| Deferral | 2
| 3 | 0
| 5 |
| RAF Reservist | |
| | |
| Exemption | 86
| 0 | 0
| 86 |
| Deferral | 27
| 0 | 0
| 27 |
| RAF Employer | |
| | |
| Exemption | 144
| 0 | 0
| 144 |
| Deferral | 20
| 0 | 1
| 21 |
|
| 
