Ministers urged to lift cap on Armed Forces pay

THE Armed Forces pay cap has had “a negative impact” on recruitment and retention, MPS have said in a report.

MPS on the Commons Defence Select Committee said a pay rise limited to 1per cent would be very disappointing, and risks further undermining morale, the report warns.

Julian Lewis MP, the chairman, said: “It would be disgraceful if our service people missed out on an increase in pay while they watched others who work for the Government receive pay awards.

“What kind of message does that send to soldiers about how much we value the difficult and sometimes dangerous job that they do?”

The 1per cent public sector pay cap has increasingly been breached in recent months. In March, the NHS was offered average pay increases of 6.5per cent over three years with lowest-paid workers enjoying a 29per cent rise. Police and prison officers have accepted rises of 1per cent with a 1per cent bonus, and 1.7per cent respectively. Firemen rejected an offer of 2per cent.

Teachers and military personnel have received no increase in pay. Critics point out that as the Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast inflation to be 2.4per cent in 2018, most of these will feel like pay cuts.

The criticism came in the annual Armed Forces Covenant report by the Commons Defence Select Committee, published on Armed Forces Day.

The report also criticised the sale of forces accommodation to Annington Homes as a “disastrous failure [that] has exposed the Department to considerable risk”. The deal also attracted criticism in the Public Accounts Committee report published yesterday, which said the MOD had lost out on billions of pounds as a result of the sale.