§ (a)Eligibility under the Scheme.
§ To be eligible to volunteer under the scheme, women must fulfil requirements of age, medical standard and qualifications which the Services will lay down, and must belong to or be qualified for branches and trades in which vacancies exist, and which will be specified. Subject to these conditions, the engagement will be open either to women still serving or to women who have left the Services, provided in each case that they have had not less than one year's service. Married women will be eligible to enter into engagements under the scheme, under similar conditions to those for officers, and, should their family circumstances alter, discharge may be permitted after a reasonable period of notice. A woman who marries after entering into an engagement will have the option of leaving the Service subject to a minimum period of notice.
862§ (b) Length of engagement.
§ Women will be invited to volunteer for extended service for alternative periods of two, three or four years, at the option of the individual and of the Service Departments. There will be no reserve liability. The period will commence from the date of engagement under the scheme.
§ (c) Conditions of service and rates of pay.
§ Women who engage under this scheme will be entitled to the current rates of pay of their rating or rank, which include the additional 8d. a day in accordance with the Prime Minister's statement referred to above until new permanent rates can be announced. War service increments will also be paid according to rating or rank at the rates earned up to 30th June, 1946, and this will apply to women who rejoin for service after that date.
§ Women who volunteer and are accepted for extended service will receive a clothing allowance of £13 16s. and coupons for a civilian outfit, provided they have not already had a clothing grant on leaving the Service. On completing their period of extended service, women will receive a gratuity at the rate of £20 for each full year of service completed under the Scheme. For women invalided, the gratuity for a broker period will be assessed on the same basis as for men. Except in the case of invaliding, a gratuity will not be payable unless at least two years' service has been completed. The gratuity for any uncompleted year after the second will be £20 reduced by £2for each month or part of a month by which it falls short of a completed year (subject to a maximum deduction of £20). Gratuity will not be paid to women who are discharged for misconduct.
§ (d)Leave.
§ Women who re-engage under this scheme before being released will be granted 28 days' re-engagement leave (or the amount of any overseas service leave if greater), 28 days' end of the war leave, subject to the same conditions as for men, and 28 days' terminal leave on completion of engagement. Re-engagement leave will be granted on a woman's volunteering or as soon after as is possible, and end 863 of war leave may be taken either when circumstances permit, or, if the woman prefers, at the end of her service. Women returning to the Services from civil life who have already had 56 days' terminal leave will be granted only the 28 days' terminal leave on completion of engagement.
§ 3. Extended service gratuities will be exempt from income tax.
§ 4. Fuller details of the arrangements will shortly be issued by the Admiralty, the War Office and the Air Ministry.