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The Ministry of Defence has apologised after thousands of recently-retired veterans were underpaid their pensions. The former RN officer who discovered the error has criticised SPVA for "being happy to sit back and not inform them they were being paid incorrectly". The Belfast Telegraph reports that:

British troops serving in Afghanistan could miss out on mail from their loved ones because of the "huge and unmanageable" amount of donations sent by members of the public, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has said.

Army chiefs have revealed they are being "overwhelmed" by the volume of parcels and shoeboxes sent to unnamed British service personnel overseas.

They say that makes it more difficult for frontline supplies and post from families to get through. BritishForcesNews reports (16 Sep).

A prominent centre-page piece in today's Daily Telegraph declares that Scottish soldiers based at Catterick in Yorkshire "have been disenfranchised" in the independence referendum.

But the article omits the fact that regular service personnel from Scotland have the option of registering there as service voters, and then of voting by post or by proxy.

The House of Commons Select Committee on Defence has just published the following report:

The Liberal Democrat party at its national conference in Glasgow this week [September 2013] has confirmed its support for organised representation of armed forces personnel.

Poles, Czechs and Slovaks fought in British skies, far from home, and helped win the Battle of Britain.

Those service personnel who joined British forces in the skies and on the ground are being honoured in an exhibition at the RAF Museum in north London. BritishForcesNews reports (19 Sep).

The Army Families Federation (AFF) is calling for ALL armed forces personnel to make a will with proper legal advice.

 

The Families Federation say they are seeing an increasing number of cases where bereaved families are struggling because the military will was not detailed enough. They cite the case of the mother of the youngest soldier killed in Afghanistan. She has had her income support and housing benefits stopped after receiving her son's death-in-service and compensation payments. Watch the full report on the British Forces News website.

Serving personnel will be aware of MoD Form 106 which can be used to make a simple Will. While we cannot advise without knowing your circumstances, in most cases we would suggest using Form 106 in preference to having no Will at all, but as the Families Federation says, it is best to make a proper Will with legal advice.

From the News of the World, Nov 2007

DEFENCE chiefs could be SUED over the squalid homes given to soldiers returning from war zones.

The troops' union is planning to take Defence Secretary Des Browne to court for compensation for servicemen and women forced to live in leaking, rat-infested old barracks.

And the British Armed Forces Federation (BAFF) wants the Ministry of Defence to be ordered to refurbish the run-down homes. BAFF chairman Doug Young said: "It beggars belief that the absolute worst barracks seem to have been reserved for some of the same units who have been fighting hardest in Afghanistan."

BAFF is in talks with troops and is offering free legal representation for any of its members who want to take the MOD on. A report recently revealed 19,000 soldiers and their families are living in conditions described by former top soldier General Sir Mike Jackson as "shaming".

BAFF can be contacted on ...


(Originally published by News of the World, Nov 2007)

On the last day for posting parcels to Camp Bastion, BritishForcesNews reports (02 Dec) that with comedy home movies posted on the internet having become something of a seasonal tradition, first out with their camcorders this year are the men and women of the Royal Logistic Corps's Eighty Postal Courier Squadron bracing themselves for a busy time ahead... Related links below.