Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has paid in incentive bonuses to trained regular armed forces personnel who have transferred to the reserve forces in each year since 2010.

The Reserves White Paper 2013 recommended that the Regular to Reserves transfer processes should be streamlined and incentivised. Therefore a Financial Incentive (The Reserves Commitment Bonus) was introduced in 2014 and is offered to encourage ex-Regulars to join the Reserves in order for the Reserves to benefit from their experience and rank, which is vital to training and operational capability. This is highlighted to Army and Royal Air Force (RAF) Regulars coming to the end of their full time service and to the ex-Regular Army and RAF communities. The Maritime Reserves have not offered financial incentives to encourage trained Regular personnel to join the Reserves although the facility exists for them to do so if they believe it is necessary.

The planned growth of the trained strength of the Reserve Forces that was set out in December 2013 included targets for trained entrants alongside new entrants.

The information requested is provided below based on data from the Joint Personnel Administrative System:

Notes:

• The Reserves Commitment Bonus was introduced in 2014.
• Data is included for FY 2013-14 as some of the payments for the Reserves Commitment Bonus were backdated to 1 January 2014.
• Data for FY 2013-14 and 2014-15 include figures for the Reserves Commitment Bonus and the Territorial Army Commitment Bonus Early Years which was paid previously for ex-Regulars joining the Army Reserve.
• Data for FY 2015-16 shows payment of the Reserves Commitment Bonus only.