§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many of the Service men to be made redundant under the Government's cuts in defence expenditure have already been sent notice of redudancy, or accepted an offer of early retirement; and, of these, how many will receive a pension which will not be compensated for inflation from the time of payment.
§ Mr. William RodgersAt 1st February 1976 a total of 1,522 United Kingdom-based Service personnel had been notified of redundancy. The overwhelming majority of these qualify for an immediate pension on leaving the Services although a precise figure is not readily available. All those notified of redundancy will, however, be under age 55 at the time of leaving, so that those who qualify for an immediate pension will not receive pension increases in recognition of inflation until reaching that age, unless they previously become incapacitated.