British Army / Redundancy notices send to 4,480 soldiers as campaign for 10,000 new recruits is launched

More than 4,000 soldiers have been axed in the latest round of defence job cuts.

The Ministry of Defence today announced 4,480 redundancy letters have been sent to troops under plans to cut the number of regulars to 82,000 by 2018.

But the government was accused of a ‘failed strategy’ as it launched a recruitment drive to find 10,000 extra troops, many as reservists.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond yesterday insisted there will be no further reductions in manpower in the next round of spending cuts for 2015-16.

The latest tranche of 4,480 job cuts was lower than the 5,300 soldiers expected, as Mr Hammond sought to blame the last Labour government for the reductions.

He said: ‘It is with great regret that we have had to make redundancies to deliver the reduction in the size of the armed forces, but unfortunately they were unavoidable due to the size of the defence deficit that this Government inherited.

‘Although smaller, our armed forces will be more flexible and agile to reflect the challenges of the future with the protection and equipment they need.

‘They will continue to be the bedrock of our society and provide extremely rewarding and exciting careers for future recruits.’

The MoD said personnel selected for redundancy would be told face to face by their commanding officer.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor

via Army hands redundancy notices to 4,480 soldiers as it launches campaign for 10,000 new recruits | Mail Online.