BRITISH ARMY DISCHARGES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27148, 18 September 1953, Page 9

BRITISH ARMY DISCHARGES

PURCHASE SYSTEM REINTRODUCED

LONDON, September 16. Regular soldiers in the British Army, who are not national servicemen, will be able to claim the privilege of buying their discharge as from' October 1. it has been announced by the War Office. , . ■ . The system was suspended during the war, reintroduced in 1948, and suspended again in August, 1950, after the outbreak of the Korean war. The War Office explains that discharge by purchase is still a privilege, and not a right, except for a recruit in his first three months of service, who has a statutory right to discharge by purchase, on payment of £2O. Others must have served three years. A soldier in his fourth year of service will be required to pay £65 for his discharge. If he is a skilled tradesman. the cost of discharge may be as much as £BO, or in the case of Armytrained apprentices, £125, unless he is in one of the restricted classes, when release could only be approved on compassionate grounds. From the fourth year of service, the cost of release is on a decreasing scale, until it reaches nothing after 15 years. Discharge for compassionate reasons is unaffected.