22/01/2013

Third Round Of Military Cuts To Be Announced

In an effort to plug a £38bn hole in the defence budget, the Ministry of Defence is to announce a third round of Army redundancies.

It is expected that another 5,000 job loses will be made.

The fresh cuts follow cuts already announced by the government to reduce Army numbers from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2017.

Under the terms of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), announced in 2010, some 17,000 armed forces jobs are scheduled to go.

5,000 jobs will go from both the navy and the air force, 7,000 from the Army and around 25,000 civilian staff working at the MoD face redundancy.

In 2011 the government sought to put greater emphasis on military reserves, announcing a further reduction of 12,000 from the regular Army.

And last year the government announced that reservist numbers were to be doubled to 30,000 by 2018, taking on an "integral" role, to help fill the gap.

This third round of redundancies is thought be the largest set of cuts faced by the Army so far, and will begin on Tuesday with the identification of the specialisms and ranks to go.

(H)

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

30 July 2008
Northern Rock Reveals Job Cuts
Northern Rock is set to shed up to 1,300 jobs as part of a restructuring plan. The troubled bank, which was effectively nationalised this year, aims to limit the number of compulsory redundancies to 800, while 500 staff will leave voluntarily. The job cuts are in line with previously announced plans to cut 2,000 staff by 2011.
14 January 2014
Council Announces 2,500 Job Cuts
Lancashire County Council (LCC) has announced around 2,500 full-time jobs are to be cut, in a move blamed on budget cuts. It is understood that LCC needs to save some £300m over the next four years, with the job cuts expected to be implemented by April 2016. The council has said that it hopes to avoid compulsory redundancies.
23 January 2014
MoD Announce Last Round Of Army Job Cuts
The Ministry of Defence has announced the fourth and final round of defence cuts, with a final 1,400 soldiers to be made redundant. The cuts started in 2010 in an effort to reduce the number of full-time soldiers from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2017. While cutting regulars, the MoD are also aiming to increase the number of reservists.
25 May 2010
Economy 'Needs Smaller Business Lessons'
Government departments could learn from smaller businesses when trying to manage shrinking budgets.
23 March 2006
Ingram announces TA changes
The government has announced a number of changes to the make-up of the Territorial Army. The changes will include the introduction of over 1,600 more engineers, 400 more Royal Armoured Corps and 400 more Army Air Corps and more Intelligence Corps.