British armed forces trial flexible working plans in bid to attract staff

Defence chiefs are attempting to make the Army, Navy and Air Force more 'family-friendly'

British armed forces personnel are now deployed in twice as many places as they were five years ago, meaning that soldiers with young families should now be able to request stability for at least part of their careers (Getty)

Members of the armed forces may be allowed to avoid deployment to conflict zones abroad when their children are young, under flexible working plans currently being trialled by the military.

In an attempt to make the Army, Navy and Air Force more “family-friendly”, defence chiefs are investigating giving service personnel the chance to reduce their liability to be deployed if there are exceptional circumstances.

More soldiers will also be able to work part-time by taking regular unpaid leave across the year along with flexible start and finish times.

Currently the plans are being trialled among about 100 soldiers of varying ranks around the country, but if it is successful it is likely to be rolled out more widely.

The plan is being promoted by the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, and has the backing of the Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon.

Ministers and senior officers hope that by making the armed forces more flexible they will be able to attract and retain staff more easily and be better able to compete with the private sector for talent.

In particular, General Carter hopes the radical break with military routine will increase the number of female troops.

“If you are working in a job that is not at high readiness in an operational unit, there is no reason that you shouldn’t perhaps be able to parade a bit later in the morning so that your children will be able to be dropped at school,” General Carter said earlier this year.

It is understood that the new initiative to allow soldiers working in certain specialisms to defer deployment has been made possible by the drawdown of British troops from Afghanistan.

A Ministry of Defence source said that while British armed forces personnel were now deployed in twice as many places as they were five years ago, these tended to be in “smaller numbers doing smaller things”.

This means that soldiers with young families should now be able to request stability for at least part of their careers. Currently women, even those with young children, have little choice but to accept deployment even if it means leaving their families for three months at a time.

“The general principle is that we want to be a modern employer that not only recruits the best and the most talented people but retains them as well,” said the source.

Women have been particularly affected by a regular army career path that allows soldiers to work full-time only within rigid hours. Anyone who takes a break to have a family automatically misses out on promotion.

Female soldiers comprise 8.9 per cent of the 82,000-strong Army. Women make up 5 per cent of the total number of people in the Army aged in their late thirties or over.

An MoD spokeswoman confirmed that the trial was ongoing. It is understood that the findings will be published in the new year and at that point flexible working is likely to be rolled out more widely.