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Nick Clegg launches ‘Don’t Short Change Our Troops: Fair Pay for Our Armed Forces’

Wed, 02 Sep 2009

We can’t reward lions with peanuts - Liberal Democrats believe that we must take action now to restore the military covenant between the Armed Forces and the people.

Nobody can put a price on the sacrifices made by our Armed Forces, but recent operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have revealed the disparity between what we expect of our soldiers and how they are rewarded.

Liberal Democrats believe that we must take action now to restore the military covenant between the Armed Forces and the people.

As a fundamental part of this we would put service personnel and their welfare at the heart of defence policy. We will ensure that no soldier, sailor or airman goes into harm’s way on less basic pay than a new recruit to the police or fire service.

There is widespread dissatisfaction over pay among the lower ranks. This has a dreadful impact on morale and retention. We will find the money to pay for this from inside the MoD. It’s ridiculous that we have one civilian for every man or woman in uniform, and almost 1000 people working in communications alone.

Major reform is necessary to reduce costs within the department. Those savings should go to where they are really necessary, to the people prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.”



The brave men and women of our armed forces are the most precious military asset we have.  They must be treated fairly, with pay and conditions that reflect their amazing commitment to this country. Liberal Democrats will ensure that no soldier, sailor or airman goes into harm’s way on less basic pay than a new recruit to the police force.
 
Pay levels are shamefully low for the lower ranks and there is widespread dissatisfaction among service personnel at salary levels and the allowances provided. Almost half of soldiers are dissatisfied and 60% of Royal Marines are dissatisfied with pay.
 
Around 50,000 receive less in basic pay than the starting salary of a police constable. Around 13,000 of these earn less than £17,000. Given the range of skills and risks now expected to be borne by the modern soldier, this hidden scandal must be addressed.
 
The ongoing Strategic Defence Review is the ideal opportunity to put the welfare of our Armed Forces at the heart of defence policy. Our proposals would bring the basic pay of the lowest paid soldiers in line with new-entrant police constables.
 
Pay increases would be tapered up through the lower ranks, from a fully-trained Private up to NCO ranks. Under our proposals no fully trained service personnel would receive less basic annual pay than a new-entrant police constable.