Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Written Statement of 24 July 2018 on Ministry of Defence -Update, HCWS909, when (a) his Department's online payroll system will process and (b) service personnel will receive the 0.9 per cent non-consolidated one-off payment.

The non-consolidated aspect of the pay award has never previously been a part of the remunerative offer for Service personnel and, as a result, the Department has always been aware that additional time would be required to build this feature into the system. The delay was not a result of issues with the online payroll system.

We are currently working to deliver the one-off payment, which is planned to be made to Service personnel by the end of the financial year, backdated to 1 April 2018.