MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Royal Navy begins redundancy program to cut Service personnel by 5.000

By 2015 the Royal Navy will be axed to around 30,000 regular Service personnel

As part of the UK Armed Forces Redundancy Program, and following on from the Army and the RAF earlier this month, on Friday the Royal Navy begun notifying personnel selected for redundancy in Tranche 1 of the program.

Approximately 1,020 Naval Service personnel, comprising around 670 applicants and around 350 non-applicants, will be notified that they have been selected for redundancy.

To implement the changes announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, the Naval Service is reducing in size by approximately 5,000 people in order to reach a figure of around 30,000 regular Service personnel by April 2015.

While about a third of the required reduction for the Royal Navy can be achieved by people leaving in normal course and by reducing recruiting and the numbers of extensions of service, the remainder can only be identified in the required timeframe through redundancy. Over the next three years it is anticipated that up to 3,250 Naval Service personnel will be made redundant.

The Royal Navy launched the first tranche of its redundancy program on 4 April 2011, inviting eligible personnel to apply to be considered for compulsory redundancy. In line with the approach across the Services individuals were later selected following a rigorous boarding and selection process using published criteria.

As is the case throughout the year, a large number of Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel are today engaged in operations across the globe, at sea, on land and in the air.

Detailed arrangements have been made to notify those selected for redundancy as swiftly as possible, wherever they are serving. Those engaged in certain operations, in Afghanistan and off the coast of Libya for example, within a specified timeframe, qualify for exemption from selection for redundancy unless they are applicants.

However, with so many people routinely deploying overseas, it is not possible for the Navy to reduce in size without including many individuals who have regularly contributed to operations throughout their careers.

All those selected for redundancy will be supported through the Divisional System and will be provided with a comprehensive resettlement package to assist with their preparations for civilian life.

Further redundancies for each Service are to be delivered by April 2015, with Tranche 2 of the Redundancy Program to be launched early next year.