Special report by Bill Heaney
The SNP have come out with all guns blazing to attack the UK government for the way it deals with Armed Forces’ pay, conditions and pensions, including the Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel who staff the Clyde Submarine Base at Faslane and Coulport and man the vessels which sail out of it.
This is despite the fact that the Nationalists are vociferously opposed to nuclear weapons and want to see them removed from the Base, which employs 6,700 civilian and Armed Forces’ personnel, many of whom live in the Dumbarton constituency, which includes Helensburgh, Cardross and Garelochside, which the SNP failed to wrest from Labour’s Jackie Baillie at the Scottish Parliament election in May.
Stewart McDonald MP, Brendan O’Hara MP and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Westminster SNP MP Stewart McDonald has compiled a report which states that from assisting with the roll-out of life-saving vaccines across Scotland to undertaking freedom of navigation exercises across the world, members of the Armed Forces have quietly continued their vital work during this past unprecedented year, with many upending their personal lives – as they have done for years – to
keep us safe.
This was an opportunity, he said, which offers “more than a chance” to give thanks for the work they do: this day provides an opportunity to reflect upon the place of the Armed Forces in society and how we recognise the sacrifice they make.
He added: “It is clear that successive UK Governments have let the Armed Forces down. Offered some of the lowest salaries for serving personnel in Europe and expected to tolerate squalid, rodent-infested housing, members of the Armed Forces are expected to make enormous personal sacrifice in exchange for some of the worst pay and conditions offered by any European or NATO ally.
“When they leave the military, responsibility for their welfare, education and health more often falls on the shoulders of third-sector organisations than on the state they served.
“This is unacceptable and must urgently change. This paper sets out a range of polices – such as an end to the culture of outsourcing or the establishment of an Armed Forces Representative Body – which we, the SNP Westminster Defence Team, believe would go some way towards making the Armed Forces an employer of choice for adults seeking a rewarding and fulfilling career in service of their country.”
His Helensburgh-based SNP colleague Brendan O’Hara represents the citizens of South Argyll in the House of Commons.
Mr McDonald said: “Unfortunately, given its past record, we have little faith in the UK Government to deliver them.
“The institutional failures of the UK Government when it comes to personnel and veteran welfare should serve as a cautionary tale to the first government of an independent Scotland, which we hope will offer these proposals more careful consideration.”
Royal Marines of 43 Commando based at Faslane on the Gareloch.
A career in the Armed Forces should not only be something that people can take pride in pursuing, but one which the Government can offer with the confidence that it is doing everything it can to recognise the sacrifices personnel make in service of their country.
We believe that, as employees of the Armed Forces, service personnel should be employed on terms that allow them to develop as professionals, remain grounded in their local communities, and ensures that their family life and personal well-being are assured.
There are five parts to this approach:
* Recruitment and retention: From the outset, we must ensure that a good employment offering is made to engage people interested in a career in the Armed Forces and retain them for as long as possible. This offering should meet or exceed the standards set by comparable public sector jobs.
* Working conditions and pensions: Guarantees on existing pension rights are required and future pensions should match or exceed current UK forces levels. A representative body for members of the Armed Forces should also be created to ensure that personnel are able to advocate for their needs in the workplace.
* Housing and Facilities: Current housing satisfaction among existing personnel is poor and we should aim to provide comfortable and desirable accommodation that allows personnel – particularly those with families – to have the flexibility to maintain a permanent home in a civilian environment near where they work.
* Education and Health: We are committed to ensuring that all serving personnel and veterans are able to access the best possible care and support. This entails robust support for physical and mental welfare, and support for career and personal development before, during, and after service. Personnel should have the opportunity to access high-quality professional development opportunities catered to all levels and abilities.
* Veterans: We remain committed to the 2028 Outcomes as outlined in the 2018 Strategy for our Veterans and suggest consideration of an independent department or unit covering veteran’s services. Within this we should look to encourage greater openness around mental health, while also ensuring that the Armed Forces and veterans are more integrated in civilian life.
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While the Armed Forces is a unique institution, it should one which fully represents the country it serves, and which offers the chance for any citizen to rise to the top, according to the SNP.
However, an ongoing Defence Select Committee inquiry has seen around 4000 women – around 40% of whom are currently serving – submit written evidence testifying to a culture of misogyny and sexist bullying.
The Armed Forces’ independent ombudsman also reported in 2019 that racist attacks in the Armed Forces were happening with ‘increasing and depressing frequency’ .
Serving personnel had described anti-racism efforts as ‘lip service and tick-box exercise with little or no
consolidated effort to root out the underlying issues”.
The UK Government’s approach to Armed Forces recruitment leaves much to be desired. The 2014 promise of 12,500 full-time personnel based in Scotland still comes nowhere close to being delivered but, instead of addressing the crisis of recruitment that has dogged the Ministry of Defence, the UK Government seems to have embraced it: the Defence Secretary announced in the 2021 Integrated Review that thousands of service personnel would be cut and the Armed Forces shrunk to its smallest size since the early eighteenth century.
In addition to raising the age of recruitment to 18, we believe there are three structural changes which the UK Government must make to its approach to recruitment and retention.
One of these is raising the age of recruitment. Children can currently apply to join the Armed Forces when just over 15-and-a-half years old. That they can then be recruited into the Armed Forces at 16 years old makes the UK an outlier among European and NATO allies and among the world’s major military powers. The UK Government should raise the age of recruitment to 18, says the SNP report.
It adds: “Prospective recruits to the Armed Forces must be made an employment offering that reflects their unique working environment and the conditions that comes with it. This offer should go beyond simply meeting their basic needs in terms of salary and pension – it should make the Armed Forces an employer of choice for those seeking a rewarding and stimulating career.
“Current UK Armed Forces’ pay scales offer recruits significantly lower starting salaries than their peers in other public sector organisations, with entry-level recruits in the UK Armed Forces earning between £4,000 and £6,000 less per annum than their counterparts in the Police or Fire Services.
“Too often serving personnel – particularly early on in their careers – feel that they are not keeping pace with civilian peers both in terms of their income and in terms of the skills that they are developing.4 And too often they leave because they are made to feel like the Armed Forces is not a place for them.
“If the Armed Forces is to be attractive employer for all citizens, both of these must be urgently rectified. Greater effort should be made to promote initiatives – such as career breaks – which would help attract and keep potential recruits who might otherwise feel that they had to choose between a military career and having prospects in civilian life.
Veterans should receive a better deal from the UK government.
“While the Armed Forces is a unique institution, it should one which fully represents the country it serves, and which offers the chance for any citizen to rise to the top. However, an ongoing Defence Select Committee inquiry has seen around 4000 women – around 40% of whom are currently serving – submit written evidence testifying to a culture of misogyny and sexist bullying. The Ministry of Defence must go further and faster with efforts to tackle identify-based discrimination and harassment in the Armed Forces.
“The recruitment pool for military personnel in the UK currently restricted by a linear and hierarchical entry structure, with those possessing essential skills having few means to enter the Forces with an attractive offer due to the obligation to begin at entry level. We welcome Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Nick Carter’s call for the Armed Forces to move towards a state where ‘we no longer distinguish between regulars and reservists particularly … that we have a spectrum of commitment from full to part-time
service.’
“Initiatives such as greater collaboration with the private sector – such as employers releasing scientists, linguists or technology experts for three or six months – should be welcomed and implemented. With skill shortages in over 100 critical trades, the Ministry of Defence should introduce such programmes as a matter of urgency.”