My Lords, approval of the Bill will afford regular service personnel the right to apply to vary their commitment temporarily. The new arrangements will not be mandated for service personnel. I can reassure my noble friend in particular on that point. Those who wish to continue serving on a full-time commitment will be free to do so.
The noble Lord, Lord Touhig, seeks to amend the Bill to ensure that regular service personnel will not see a reduction in their basic pay, X-factor payment or any other universal payments provided for regular service personnel as a result of the Bill. I am sure that noble Lords will agree with me that it is fair and appropriate that in the future, those regular service personnel who elect to vary their commitment should see a commensurate variation in the reward they receive. We have worked closely with the services to ensure that this variation will be above all else fair and reasonable both to those who work under the new enhanced flexible arrangements and to those who do not.
As noble Lords will recall, I made this point during Second Reading. I can also now say categorically that those who remain working on a full-time commitment will not as a result of the Bill see a reduction in their basic pay, X-factor payment or any other universal payments provided for regular service personnel. Furthermore, let me reassure the Committee that the introduction of part-time working will not be used to lower the full-time equivalent basic rate of pay, the X-factor allowance or any other universal allowances payments available to personnel.
During the Bill’s Second Reading, I provided reassurances that regular service personnel undertaking part-time working would retain those entitlements available to full-time regulars. Service accommodation in particular is an important provision for many personnel and their families that helps enable their mobility in support of defence capability. It is an important part of the offer for our people and an entitlement that the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, seeks through her amendment to ensure will still apply to personnel who successfully apply to work part time. To support my earlier reassurance, I can also confirm that our current policy makes provision for all regular service personnel to have an entitlement to service accommodation commensurate with their personal status category and other qualifying criteria. Service personnel will retain an enduring liability for mobility when working part time because they will still be subject to the same moves associated with new assignments as others in the regular Armed Forces. Therefore, they will remain entitled to service accommodation as under our existing policy and there is no need to alter the entitlement to accommodation for those who undertake part-time working; they will continue to be able to access service accommodation under the same criteria as full-time regulars.
I spoke earlier of the future accommodation model project that is due to be introduced in 2019 as part of the defence people programme. That project aims to create a more fair, affordable and flexible model for providing accommodation for our people while giving
them more choice about where, how and with whom they live. It will also provide a subsidy to help more personnel live in private accommodation, including by helping to meet their aspirations for home ownership. Eligibility under the future accommodation model will not be altered for those personnel who work part time or subject to geographical restriction for a period. The noble Baroness raised the question of accommodation pressures as part-time working is rolled out. My answer to her at present is that given the anticipated low take-up, we do not expect additional pressures on housing to any significant degree.
Similarly for service personnel who opt to leave the Armed Forces, access to resettlement and employment support for up to two years prior to their discharge date and for two years afterwards will remain an entitlement for those who undertake part-time working. We want to ensure that our people transition successfully from an Armed Forces career where they receive world-class training to a civilian one where they can add real value to society because we have good quality people with developed skills who can really benefit external organisations. The noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, has sought to amend the Bill to protect the entitlement to resettlement under the new measures, and I can confirm that there will be no difference in resettlement entitlement for full-time service personnel and those regular personnel who work part time and/or restrict the amount of time that they are separated from their home base. The entitlement to resettlement is currently based on the number of years of service between the date of enlistment and the date of discharge. This will not change for those who take the opportunity to work flexibly on the introduction of the new flexible working opportunities. I can also confirm that there are no plans proportionally to calculate resettlement entitlement for personnel who undertake flexible working based on their actual number of days of work. Our resettlement policy guidance will be updated on the introduction of the new flexible working arrangements to state that resettlement support will remain the same for those who take advantage of them so that applicants are fully aware of their continuing entitlement.
It will be difficult to assess what impact the new flexible working arrangements might have on resettlement services in light of the fact that entitlements will not alter. Additionally, as the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, will recall, I said at Second Reading that we expect a small yet significant number of personnel to undertake flexible working. For these reasons the impact on resettlement entitlements is likely be minimal and challenging to measure.
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Amendment 16 deals with the effect that undertaking flexible working opportunities may have on an individual’s promotion prospects. The need to ensure fairness for those personnel who take up the new flexible working opportunities and those who do not is one of the fundamental principles underpinning the design of the policies and processes that will support the changes brought by this Bill. They include making sure we avoid intentional and unintentional career penalties, creating the opportunity for individuals to maintain or regain career momentum and maximising accessibility
of transfers between regulars and reserves in both directions. Service personnel will continue to be promoted on the basis of their performance and potential. Choosing to work flexibly will not in itself damage someone’s promotion prospects. However, it may delay the development of skills and experience, which will be a consideration for individuals on applying, and the impact will vary depending on the stage of their career.
As noble Lords may recall from my response to a similar question at Second Reading, I am confident that the administrative process for the new flexible working arrangements already has the same safeguards that the noble Baroness is seeking build into its design. Furthermore, as a matter of policy, promotion boards will be directed to assess fairly all candidates for promotion on the basis of their merit and future potential, irrespective of any period of flexible service.
The new arrangements will be supported by a number of key principles with underpinning activities. They include that personnel working flexibly will not be managed as a single cohort or commitment type but will continue to be managed within their existing service, branch and trade structure. In addition, we will seek to avoid intentional or unintentional career penalties for those who undertake flexible service and we will create the opportunity for individuals to maintain or regain career momentum.
Our current position and future intent therefore is to provide a fair and consistent opportunity for those taking advantage of the flexible working arrangements to be able to advance at the same rate of opportunity as others in their cohort. This will also help to ensure that flexible working is regarded as a fair, viable and retention-positive proposition rather than a negative one and will promote the best talent to the higher ranks for the benefit of the services and defence. The noble Lord, Lord Touhig, asked whether flexible working is currently codified. It is. Current flexible working arrangements are set out in JSP 750. I would be happy to provide the noble Lord with a copy.
As I mentioned at Second Reading, a decision on promotion is very largely forward-looking, rather than an exercise in looking back. It should absolutely be about the person’s potential above all else. It is important to stress again that the introduction of enhanced flexible working options is about providing opportunities for our people who want to work more flexibly and not to disadvantage them or their families by limiting access to entitlements and support available to regular service personnel. Similarly, any effect on allowances or promotion are intended to be proportionate and fair and our policy has been developed to limit any negative impact. With this in mind, we will work closely with the services to monitor the impact of these new measures on service personal under- taking flexible working and, as I promised earlier, we will report findings in the Armed Forces Covenant Annual Report.
My noble friend Lord Attlee asked a specific question about whether part-time working would be used as a disciplinary tool. Part-time working will absolutely not be awarded as a punishment or anything like that. I hope I have answered the main question about how
pay will be reduced on a proportionate and fair basis, but on my noble friend’s specific question on whether the calculation will be based on a seven-day working week or a 365-day working year, I will write to him, if he will allow that.
I hope that my rather lengthy answer will convince noble Lords that it is not necessary for the Bill to be amended in the ways suggested and that, following my assurances, the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, will withdraw his amendment.