Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the interview by the Minister for Defence People, Veterans and Service Families with the Financial Times on 9 August 2023, when his Department plans to introduce flexible pay models for the armed forces.

The Ministry of Defence is undertaking work to examine and take-forward the recommendations made within Agency and Agility: Incentivising people in a new era. A review of UK Armed Forces incentivisation by Rick Haythornthwaite. Regarding flexible pay, as outlined in recommendation 24, the Department will commence a trial of a 'total reward approach' through 2024. This approach finds the optimal point where personnel are best supported across all elements of reward, both financial and non-financial, to achieve organisational objectives in a sustainable manner. It will allow for tailored reward packages to be quickly and easily created to match the reality of what our personnel are asked to do according to their role and activity. Lessons will be learned from the trial and then we will look to roll this approach out more widely across the Armed Forces.