The Armed Forces (Discharge and Transfer to the Reserve Forces) (No. 2) Regulations 2009

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make provision as to the discharge of members of the regular forces, and their transfer to a reserve force.

Regulation 3 makes provision as to the persons by whom a member of the regular forces may be discharged or transferred to a reserve force. Regulations 4 to 6 provide for the procedure on such a discharge or transfer.

Regulation 7 gives a warrant officer a right to be discharged if a sentence of the Court Martial has reduced his rank or rate to the greatest extent permissible, or his rank or rate has been automatically reduced because a custodial sentence or a sentence of service detention passed by the Court Martial has taken effect. The regulation also applies where his rank or rate has been reduced in either of these ways by a sentence of the Court Martial Appeal Court (provided that it did not apply by virtue of the Court Martial’s original sentence), and where a suspended sentence passed by the Appeal Court is activated. Where the regulation applies, the warrant officer may claim discharge within 28 days of the reduction in his rank or rate.

Where a call-out order under section 52, 54 or 56 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 is in force at the time when a member of the regular forces would otherwise be entitled to be discharged or transferred to a reserve force, regulation 8 enables his discharge or transfer to be postponed for a limited period, and any reserve liability reduced accordingly. He may agree to serve beyond the period for which he can be retained without his consent. Regulation 8 corresponds to provisions of the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955 and the Armed Forces Act 1966 which were amended by the Reserve Forces Act 1996 with effect from 1st April 1997. Members of the regular forces who were already serving on that date are currently subject to those provisions in their unamended form, unless they have since elected to be subject to those provisions as amended. Regulations 9 to 13 similarly ensure that such persons, if they have not so elected, continue to be subject to those provisions as they stood before the 1997 amendments. Regulation 14 enables such a person to elect to be subject to the new provisions instead.

Regulation 16 revokes the Armed Forces (Discharge and Transfer to the Reserve Forces) Regulations 2009, which are replaced by these Regulations.

The Schedule makes transitional provision.