UK armed forces to undergo further 1,060 job cuts

12 June 2014 BBC

The government plans to reduce the size of the armed forces by 2018

The Ministry of Defence has announced 1,060 armed forces redundancies in its fourth and final round of cuts.

As a result, 995 service personnel will leave the Army, 10 will go from the Royal Navy and 55 from the RAF.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the cuts - part of the government's Strategic Defence and Security Review, called Army 2020 - "were unavoidable".

The National Audit Office has warned that plans to cut the Army and increase reservists have "significant risks".

Mr Hammond said the announcement "marks the end to a period of uncertainty and doubt for our personnel" and will address the "blackhole" in 2010's defence budget.

He said the announcement will allow "greater certainty for armed forces personnel going forward".

'Challenges'

"It is with great regret that we have had to make redundancies to reduce the size of the armed forces, but unfortunately they were unavoidable," he added.

General Sir Nicholas Haughton, chief of the defence staff, said the cuts would present "opportunities and challenges" and vowed to support military personnel who will leave the armed forces.

Read Analysis By Caroline Wyatt