Veterans' call-up age to rise from 55 to 65 as 95,000 face reserve test

Thousands of former soldiers, sailors and RAF personnel are set to be called on next year in a mobilisation exercise using Britain's 95,000-strong strategic reserve, Armed Forces Minister Louise Sandher-Jones has said. At the same time, the new Armed Forces Bill would raise the maximum age at which veterans can be called up from 55 to 65, according to GB News. The minister said the reserve would be exercised "on a scale we haven't seen for a long time", but the number of veterans taking part has not yet been confirmed.

Ms Sandher-Jones set out the plans to the House of Lords' national resilience committee on Monday. GB News reports that defence planners have increasingly warned the UK could find itself confronting Russia before the end of the decade.

How the reserve test and new call-up rules would work

The exercise is meant to check whether former Army, Royal Navy and RAF personnel can be contacted, mobilised and equipped in a crisis. Ms Sandher-Jones told peers the strategic reserve was "a real commitment for those that are in it" and said next year's programme would go through the measures to "call out, use, equip" its members. The former Army officer admitted that when she left the Army and found she was in the reserve, she "just filed it away and never thought about it again", adding: "We are definitely no longer in that space."

The Armed Forces Bill would also lower the bar for mobilising former personnel. At present they can be called out in cases of "national danger, great emergency or attack in the UK", but ministers want that changed to "war-like preparations", according to GB News. That would give the Government room to act well before any attack takes place.

Senior defence figures have questioned whether the current system works at all. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, who led last year's strategic defence review, has said officials did not "know where most" members of the reserve were, and urged the Government to "round up those who are available and fit and willing". Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton has warned that Britain lacks an "effective system of tracking and engaging" people who have recently left military service.

Which former service personnel are in the reserve

GB News describes the strategic reserve as former military personnel who keep a liability to be recalled after they leave service. It is separate from the nearly 32,000 active reservists who choose to serve part-time in the Armed Forces. Under existing law, all former regular and reserve officers can be recalled throughout their lives, and the Ministry of Defence must keep in contact with former personnel for six years after they leave full-time service.

For older veterans, the age limit is the biggest change. If the maximum call-up age rises from 55 to 65, people who thought they had aged out of any recall liability could find themselves covered again. The reports do not say exactly which groups the higher limit would apply to, whether there would be exemptions, or what pay and job protection people taking part in next year's exercise would get.

Key numbers

• 95,000: the size of the UK's strategic reserve of former service personnel.
• 65: the proposed new maximum call-up age, up from 55 under the Armed Forces Bill.
• 32,000: roughly how many active reservists volunteer part-time. They are a separate group from the strategic reserve.
• six years: how long the MoD must keep in contact with people after they leave full-time service.
• 71,000: the fully trained regular Army personnel ready for frontline deployment, the smallest Army in more than 200 years.
• 840: how much the RAF grew over the year as recruitment overtook departures, against 170 for the Army.

When the changes could take effect

GB News says the Armed Forces Bill changes are expected to come into force next spring, and the reserve exercise is planned for next year. No dates or contact arrangements for the exercise have been published. Until the bill becomes law, nothing changes and the current call-up age of 55 still applies.

All this comes in the middle of a row over defence money. GB News reports that Prime Minister Andy Burnham is under pressure over Labour's defence spending plans, and that Chancellor John Healey is not expected to commit to spending 3 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030 in next month's Budget. Training for some soldiers in the Army's 3rd Division was reportedly cancelled to cut costs, with live-firing exercises suspended until April.

What you can do now

If you served in the Army, Royal Navy or RAF and are not sure whether you are in the strategic reserve, find your discharge or leaving papers and check what they say about recall. If you left full-time service within the last six years, make sure the MoD has your correct address and contact details. No official guidance on next year's exercise has been published yet, so check any unexpected message claiming to be a call-up with the MoD before acting on it.

If the higher age limit concerns you, follow the Armed Forces Bill as it goes through Parliament and raise your views with your MP before it becomes law. If you have health problems or caring responsibilities that could affect whether you can serve, keep the relevant records together, as the reports do not yet say how such cases would be handled.

Your questions answered

Can I be called up if I am over 55?

Under the current rules the maximum call-up age is 55, according to GB News. The Armed Forces Bill would raise it to 65, with the changes expected to come into force next spring. Former officers are a separate case, as existing law already allows them to be recalled throughout their lives.

Is the strategic reserve the same as the Army Reserve?

No. The strategic reserve is made up of former personnel who keep a liability to be recalled after leaving service. The nearly 32,000 active reservists are a separate group who volunteer to serve part-time.

Will I be told if I am part of next year's exercise?

The minister has not said how many veterans will take part or how they will be chosen. Lord Robertson has said officials did not "know where most" members of the reserve were, and finding and contacting them is one of the things the exercise is meant to test.