British Army may lift beard ban

[dimsum]

British army may lift beards ban after 300-plus years

To help swell ranks, army chiefs reportedly considering aligning with navy and RAF in allowing beards

www.theguardian.com

 

[daftandbarmy]

Reservists could now get Army pension following 'major' win in landmark case​

Britain's thousands of British Army reservists could be in line to receive a service pension for the first time after a retired major won a landmark case against the MOD.

In a new ruling that could be 'life-changing' for thousands of soldiers, a tribunal has found the MOD had no justification to exclude all reservists from a pension scheme before 2015.

The Territorial Army pensions were called into question at the employment tribunal after Major Charles Milroy brought a 'David versus Goliath' case against the MOD.

Posting on social media before his case, Maj Milroy said he was "the test case".

"If I am successful, other TA soldiers will be able to make similar claims, and for some of them this may be life-changing," he said.

Slade de Lacey, solicitor at Beers LLP for Maj Milroy, said they were "pleased with the unanimous findings of the panel".

They said the decision "finds that reservists with enough service are eligible for a pension for their part-time reserve service and all reservists will benefit from the decision on parity of pay with full-time personnel."

Maj Milroy, 66, was denied access to a military pension despite serving more than 37 years in the TA, which included a tour in Iraq.

The MOD denied TA soldiers a full service pension until 2015, when the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2015 came in allowing both regular soldiers and reservists.

However, Maj Milroy took the MOD to the tribunal, claiming that he should have been let onto a military pension scheme for his service from 1982 to 2015.

The tribunal in Glasgow heard Maj Milroy was not allowed to enrol because the MOD claimed it was "administratively burdensome and extremely expensive" to provide pensions to all reservists.

Reservists could now get Army pension following 'major' win in landmark case

Reservist pensions were called into question after Major Charles Milroy brought a 'David versus Goliath' case against the MOD.

www.forcesnews.com