What you said was the key reason for military personnel leaving Armed Forces
When the Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin told MPs that the numbers of personnel leaving the Armed Forces each month was between 200-300 people, BFBS Forces News asked our audience why you think people are deciding to put their papers in.
The poll had around 2,000 comments and there were almost 400,000 views of the original report across social media.
And it was obvious there was a very clear reason mentioned over and over again for personnel leaving the military – pay.
Here are just a few of the comments posted, with wages the number one issue:
"PAY, PAY, PAY. Housing, housing, housing."
"I'm married and got kids – £1,600 per month is not enough for us."
"The Army cannot live on £1,700 a month, the only people signing off are privates."
"I'll give you two suggestions – money and money."
"If you can get paid more in civvy street and go home every night, why wouldn't you?"
How much has Armed Forces pay risen in recent years?
Between September 2010 and September 2022, the Armed Forces received below-inflation settlements in most years, which meant the cumulative salary increase was just 17% in the period.
Consumer prices, meanwhile, increased by 38% in that time.
So in that 12-year period, prices went up by more than twice as much as the increase in forces' pay.
6% pay increase in 2024
Since then, the new Government awarded personnel a 6% pay rise, the highest in 22 years.
The salary increase for serving personnel was higher than the 5.5% for NHS workers and teachers and the 4.75% for police.
In a written statement in July 2024, Defence Secretary Mr Healey said that these were "serious times" and the "Armed Forces are vital to protecting the nation, supporting our allies, and meeting operational commitments".
"The Government recognises that our service personnel make extraordinary sacrifices as they continue to work tirelessly at home and abroad, and we are proud of their professionalism and bravery."
How does Armed Forces starting pay compare?
We've compared pay packets for non-commissioned officers across the Armed Forces with other public sector roles, and they're all lower than starting salaries for a newly qualified nurse, a newly qualified teacher and a police constable.
The difference is several thousand pounds.
An Army private, RAF AS2, and Royal Navy Rating start on £25,200, which is a take-home pay per month of £1,784.25, whereas a newly qualified teacher starts on £31,650 and takes home £2,160.50 monthly.
A police constable gets around £29,907, which is a take-home of £2,058.53, and a newly qualified nurse gets £29,969, receiving net pay of £2,062 a month.
When it comes to officer starting salaries, there's better news.
Across the forces, these are all higher than the starting salaries of teachers, police and nurses.
Are officers better off in comparison?
Officers training at Sandhurst get paid £33,183.
Officers in the RAF enter on £33,100 and the starting salary for the Royal Navy is £33,000.
We want to know more about exactly who is leaving the forces, so asked the MOD for a breakdown of the rank, service, length of service and age of those 200-300 who are leaving every month.
The MOD response was for us to submit a Freedom of Information request to get the answers. This normally takes around a month for a response.
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