Thread by @LOS_Fisher

British soldiers and airmen are being forced to back military retention bonuses worth up to £1,900 after being told they were ineligible to receive them.

MoD has apologised for making the payments that it said were processed in error, but insists cash must be clawed back.

1/n

Commitments bonuses were intro'd to curb early exit of personnel from forces, incentivising them to serve an extra 2 years.

However, the 2015 strategic defence & security review scrapped the bonuses for new joiners from April 2016

2/n

Personnel who enlisted before April 2016 have remained eligible to receive bonus, but those who joined after this date & successfully applied for it must give the money back.

The funds are being automatically deducted from the monthly pay roll (up to 4 days' pay per month)

3/n

Many army and RAF personnel affected are angry about the move, claiming they made a decision to stay in forces based on the bonus & did not know they were ineligible, according to @MilitaryBanter

Hundreds are said to be affected by the issue.

forcescompare.uk/hundreds-of-ar…

4/n

Defence insiders think there may have been some ineligible personnel who applied for the bonus in good faith, while others likely knew they were not supposed to receive it.

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MoD spox: “Commitment bonuses were phased out for those joining the Armed Forces on or after 1 April 2016, although a small number of ineligible claims for these payments have since been made.

“We apologise for this error. We have contacted personnel affected to rectify this.”