Soldiers to get Tesco vouchers
HARD-UP soldiers are being given £100 Tesco vouchers to help with spiralling living costs.
But the need for the handouts has been condemned by a former defence minister who said servicemen and women had seen their pay slashed.
The Rifles regiment – the Army’s largest infantry regiment – tweeted: ”We know our Riflemen are not immune to the cost-of-living crisis.
“To help them, we are offering vouchers to those in our regiment who are most in need.”
A further tweet said: “The regiment is using its own charitable, non-public funds to support The Rifles family and it is our decision alone to do so.”
The Rifles Benevolent Trust is providing the vouchers.
It already spends around £500,000 a year, but fears it is not reaching all those in need.
A Facebook message added: “We expect only those in genuine financial difficulties to apply.”
Hardship
“A one-off voucher is not the final answer to a wider problem, but it will help immediately and might allow those in serious hardship to be identified and supported further.”
Labour MP Kevan Jones, a former defence minister and member of the Defence Committee, said: “Those who we rely on to protect our interests overseas should not be reliant on food vouchers.
“Privates have suffered a £1,000 real-terms pay cut since 2010. The Government cannot continue to say that service people are our ‘best asset’, whilst residing over collapses to morale, Army numbers and basic pay.”
The Rifles is made up of seven battalions, with more than 4,000 personnel serving in 26 locations. Average pay for a private is £20,400 a year, with a lance corporal earning £27,326.
A corporal’s average wage is £31,869 a year, while a sergeant earns £35,853 a year.