TA Overhaul: Army Reservists Given Benefits

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

The Defence Secretary has announced that £1.8bn will be invested in a restructured reservist force over the next decade.

Philip Hammond set out a new package for reservist soldiers and their employers as he unveiled the Reserve White Paper in the House of Commons.

He announced a major expansion in the part-time force and unveil plans for a special £42m equipment budget.

Training will also be boosted, with more exercises held overseas and smaller firms given financial incentives to let staff join up.

Details about which Territorial Army regiments are to disband are due to be revealed, although defence sources point out that new ones will also be created.

The White Paper also confirmed a change in name with the TA, which senior military officers feel has a Dad's Army connotation, becoming The Reservists.

Philip Hammond says employers will benefit from the changes

Thirty-six TA centres will also be "vacated", although that is far less than the 88 predicted based on early calculations.

They will not be sold off, but instead used for other purposes. A total of £80m will be spent refurbishing the remaining centres, with 68 major units for the reserve force.

Companies will also be given more notice of training and deployments so they can plan for the temporary loss of staff.

Mr Hammond promised to listen to the concerns and views of businesses to ensure their co-operation.

Speaking to Sky News before his statement, he said: "The White Paper allows us to set out our vision for the future of reserves. We need the support of employers to make this work.

"But we also need to make sure that the benefits of reservist training, the skills that reservists learn, can be properly recognised and deployed in their civilian workplace to make them better employees.

"An additional financial incentive over and above the reimbursement of costs that we already provide is our way of recognising that pressure that it puts particularly on smaller employers."

But Neil Carberry, the Confederation of British Industry's director of employment and skills, said small businesses were willing to work with the MoD but fear being told what to do.

"What we want to see is not a 'thou shalt do this' when you employ a reservist from the MoD, but rather a 'let us tell you how we can work together' to make employing a reservist a really enjoyable experience," he said.

The Ministry of Defence needs to dramatically increase the size of The Reservists. The total reserve force, made up of all three services, currently stands at around 22,000, of which around 19,000 are in the Army.

But the aim is to expand it to 35,000 members, 30,000 in the Army. A big marketing drive has been put in place including a recent series of adverts broadcast live from Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.

The Head of the Army, General Sir Peter Wall, admits the key challenge will be recruiting the numbers needed, but is confident that will be achieved.

"There is a cultural shift required here, there is a sort of experimental nature here, but we need to remember that historically we had a big reserve and when I joined the Army a few decades ago it was over 100,000 in the reserve," he told Sky News.

"We also need to remember that other nations make far more use of reserve manpower than we do, particularly the American army, which you wouldn't necessarily associate as being that situation and if we emulate what they've been doing then I think we'll be fine."

The Reservists will train alongside the regular troops. There will be more overseas exercises for them and both the reserve and regular force will train together ahead of deployments.

Sergeant Gary Shepard is a lorry driver and a member of The Reservists. He foresees no problem with a closer working relationship.

"I'm actually an ex-regular soldier, but when I joined 1 Para we integrated very easily and within a few weeks they actually forgot we were part-time," he told Sky News.

"What we do is 'beat-up' training prior to going and joining them (the regulars) so that we're on the same level as they are." 

However, the restructuring is not out of choice but financial pressures. The regular Army is being cut to 82,000 personnel, the lowest level for more than a century.

Although the MoD escaped the worst of the budget cuts in the recent Spending Review, the military is still undergoing a major restructuring following the Strategic Defence and Security Review a few years ago.

There will be a fourth and final round of redundancies early next year which will largely affect the Army.

Dan Jarvis, a former soldier and now a Labour MP, has his doubts. He said: "Let's be clear, these decisions are being made not about capability, but about saving money.

"The Government has considerable challenges ahead to recruit the number of reservists it needs.

"We accept and understand that changes do have to be made, but it will be a difficult a process to make all those changes happen smoothly and effectively."

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