I HEARD bonuses are being paid out to soldiers after 16 years of service. This came as a surprise because during my husband’s 22 years with the Army he has never received a bonus.
When he joined, he was promised an extra pound a day as an incentive for signing up for full-time service. However, after only three years this rule changed and the money stopped. For the remainder of his career he did not receive anything in the way of extra payments.
To find out that some soldiers who joined after my husband are getting bonuses while we are left out is an injustice. I think the Army should do something about it. Name & address supplied
Reply from Col John Ridge, Army Pay Colonel: There are no current schemes which pay soldiers financial bonuses after 16 years’ service.
Over the past years, there have been various Commitment Bonuses endorsed by the Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body. The eligibility for each is usually tied to the start date of reckonable service (usually enlistment date), and different schemes have been introduced in order to reflect specific recruitment and retention issues.
The current scheme, for those who joined after 19 January 2011, gives personnel the option of taking payments at the 4, 5, 6 or 8-year point. Without the details of your husband’s date of entry, it’s not possible to state which, if any, he may have been entitled to. Your best point of contact would be his unit admin officer.