MoD Civilian Servant workers get payment of £14,000 24 July 2006
Up to 1,500 Ministry of Defence civilian workers who face redundancy under base closure plans are to get an extra payment of £14,000.
Civilian jobs are going as Army bases are closed The MoD has said those affected will also get a retraining allowance on top of agreed redundancy compensation.
In May, the government said it would retain 11 Army bases in the province, instead of the 14 originally planned. It came in response to the IRA's statement in 2005 that it was ending its armed campaign.
The base closures are part of the end of Operation Banner, the Army's support role for police during the Troubles. It has been running for 35 years and is the longest operation in British Army history. It will end on 1 August next year and by then the Army presence in Northern Ireland will have been radically reduced. At the height of the Troubles there were almost 27,000 troops based in Northern Ireland. By next summer, there will be no more than 5,000.
Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram said: "While normalisation is good news for Northern Ireland, it also brings substantial change for our civilian workforce and my department has been working hard to draw up an enhanced redundancy package for those affected.
"This is a generous package for a unique set of circumstances for those MoD civilians in Northern Ireland made redundant between 1 August 2006 and 31 December 2008."
Sourced From: BBC
Category: Civil Service
See all News Stories