Written Question·Ministry of Defence·UIN 119574

Armed Forces: Pay

Tabled: 10 March 2026
Answered: 18 March 2026

Question

Luke Akehurst

LabourNorth Durham

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the retention payment introduced by the armed forces to private soldiers and lance corporals in 2025 on recruitment and retention of personnel.

Answer

Louise Sandher-Jones
The Army forecasts the impact to be in the region of 290 retentions to date. While there is no way to isolate the impact of this specific initiative from wider retention efforts, in seeking approval for this initiative, an assessment was made that c300 se...

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