Single £500 incentive paid out under Army and Navy refer a friend scheme
Just a single £500 payment has been made under the latest Ministry of Defence scheme to incentivise serving military personnel to refer a friend and get them to join up.
The Royal Navy began operating the cash bounty in October 2023 to encourage serving sailors to refer civilian friends to join, while the British Army launched a similar scheme in July 2023.
But since both schemes, which are worth up to £1.2m, were launched, the Army has made only one payment, while each service has around 200 payments "under consideration".
The figures emerged in response to a parliamentary question by shadow defence secretary John Healey, who asked how many serving personnel had been awarded a referral bounty.
Dr Andrew Murrison, a Royal Navy reservist and Minister for Defence People and Families, responded by saying the Navy scheme would run until March 2025 with allocated funding of approximately £830,000.
He said no payments had yet been made, although "approximately 200 claims are under consideration".
The South Wiltshire MP went on to say the Army's Recruitment Bounty Scheme "will run across two financial years with allocated funding of approximately £400,000," adding that one payment has been made, with around 200 under consideration.
He went on to explain that payments can only be made once the referred recruit reaches attestation on their initial or basic training course.
Known as the Attestation Ceremony, each recruit reads aloud their promise to be loyal to the monarch.
They say: "I swear by almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to his Majesty King Charles III, his heirs and successors, and that I will as in duty bound, honestly and faithfully defend His Majesty, his heirs and successors in person, crown and dignity, against all enemies, and will observe and obey all orders of His Majesty, his heirs and successors and the generals and officers set over me."
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