Lucy is on work experience.

I wish to raise the issue of cuts to allowances for Reserve Defence Force members. Cuts were introduced in 2011 as part of austerity measures after the economic crash. The public sector was badly hit by quite severe cuts at the time.

The Reserve Defence Force allowance was cut by 25% and it was taxed for the first time after that as well. This was severely felt by the members of the Reserve Defence Force. Many of the cuts implemented at that time have been reversed but the cut to the Reserve Defence Force allowance has not been and it should be. It has also impacted on those who have retired since then because military pensions and retirement gratuities are calculated directly as a percentage of a member's final salary and pensionable allowances at the date of retirement. The 5% FEMPI cuts to allowances permanently suppressed the retirement baseline for anyone who left the service during the austerity era. I ask that the Minister for Defence addresses this issue without delay.