Quick Q for those who may know or may be thinking of doing the same thing as me.

Should I be selected for the Golden Axe I stand to receive (in the next tranche) a rather hefty £80,000 (after full commutation) and a pension.

Now, I am pragmatic enough to know that it is nothing personal, and I would like to carry on serving after redundancy... specificaly with the TA.

There is a clause that states that in the event of joining another service some of the lump sum would be paid back.

The formula used is (IIRC) (sum multiplied by 365) divided by sum. I know of someone on FTRS who this affected, but does this formula come in to play for Part Time Reserve Service? ie Normal TA.

If so I would imagine that the current thinking that many blokes leaving the regs would join the TA.

But does anyone know if the payback of the lump sum comes in to play for a redundant/pensioned off Reg joining the TA?

CF I am in no way into HR but I did happen to read a DIN which might answer your question.

Have a look at 2011DIN01-97 ARMY COMPULSSORY REDUNDANCY DIN, para 39. It has a link to THE ARMED FORCES REDUNDANCY SCHEMES. Look to page 11 EXEMPTEED ADDITIONAL SERVICE. This says that you will not have to pay anything back.

With the increase of the TA looming I believe the powers to be are expecting a lot of the manning to be taken up by Ex Regulars. Taking money back would hardly encourage them to join the TA.

Regards,

Q.

And you get top bounty straight away in your first year without needing to meet the normal criteria.

Lot of work going at the moment so the TA is probably a safe bet for you.

If you do join a TA unit (and it will depend on cap-badge and PID availability - you may have to drop a rank or not dependant on the heatlth of the TA unit ORBAT) you will not be expected to deploy within 3 years and you should only do around 15 days rather than the 27.

You will be training under Reserve Forces Act 1996 Sect 22(1).b. which is normal TA Training which does NOT affect your EDP / Gartuity etc HOWEVER, step across that line to FTRS under Reserve Forces Act 1996 Sect 24 and your will have your pension stopped or abated and the EDP clawed back. To a certain extent this should happen if you get onto Additional Duties Commitment (ADC) under reserve Forces Act 1996 sect 25, however, it depends on how many days you do before that happens.

If you mange to get in a TA Unit and they offer you casual work for a few days per week its called Voluntary Training Other Duties (VTOD) which is sometimes known as simply "on MTDs". This is under RFA96 Sect 27 and does NOT affect Gratuity / EDP or pension.

CF, the text below is direct from the redundancy booklet, this is only relevant to your Special Capital Payment (SCP). The formula to calculate the amount to be paid back makes my eyes bleed but if you really want to know, i can post it.

GENERAL RULES
If you receive compensation under AFRS 06 or AFRS 2010 and subsequently:
· rejoin the Regular Armed Forces, or
· enter Full-Time Reserve Service (FTRS), or
· enter part-time Reserve Service on an Additional Duties Commitment (ADC), or
· take up a Public Service appointment that is reserved for a former member of the Armed
Forces,
you may be required to repay some or all of your redundancy compensation depending upon the
length of your break in service.
PERSONS EXEMPTED FROM REPAYMENT OF COMPENSATION
You will not be required to repay your compensation if you:
· are recalled to permanent service, or
· are called out to permanent service as a member of the Reserve Forces, or
· undertake paid service of less than 180 days duration within any period of 12 months as a
member of the Reserve Forces for the purposes of training and other duties, or
· join the Home Civil Service, including the Military Support Function (MSF), or Her Majesty’s
Diplomatic Service on open competition term

You do not have to pay back any monies that you have received i.e. gratuity and pension upon joining the TA; there are, however, implications if you chose to undertake an FTRS engagement and you would need to take specialist advice on this issue. If you chose to undertake an ADC as well as your mandatory 27 MTDs (19 in a National unit), then you need to watch the totals rather carefully.

Cheers guys.

Pretty much what I thought.

Not too fussed about rank or job in TA, I'll just join the nearest, was thinking of Engrs or Cav. It'd be nice to stay at a certain level of rank though, mainly so I could actually use my quals to full effect (ie RMQ/FFQ).

Anyone know of any funky units out there (national or whatever) with interesting roles?

If I can squeeze a tour with MSSG in before leaving I wll be quite chuffed.

The recovery of the lump sum only relates to Regular or FTRS service. TA service doesn't trigger a recovery.

Originally Posted by Forces Pension Society

TA service doesn't trigger a recovery.

Unless you take on an ADC.

Quite right Idrach. I am afraid I lumped ADC in with FTRS. I should have been more accurate and said that Armed Forces service which is paid and pensionable will trigger a recovery.