Thursday 24 January 2008

MoD underpays 50,000

New figures announced in the House of Lords show that over 50,000 military personnel have been underpaid. The underpayments amount to hundreds of pounds a month and affect soldiers serving on the frontline. Failures in the Ministry of Defence's new payroll system supplied by EDS were reported back in December but the full scale of the cock-up has only just come to light.
Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox said: "Forces personnel have enough to worry about as it is without having to check the MoD is paying them correctly. The contrast between the professionalism of our troops and the incompetence of the MoD grows by the day."
The MoD has put it all down to teething problems and says that the new Joint Personnel Administration payroll system has been 99.3% successful and that no "financial hardship" has been incurred. Unfortunately coming on top of a whole series of cock-ups and failings, this latest news makes it seem that disasters are now endemic within the MoD.

Link> BBC: MoD pay blunder hits armed forces
Link> AquilaVictrix: MoD underpays frontline troops
Link> The Telegraph: MoD computer fault still underpays Forces