Military reservists are paid directly by the Ministry of Defence when they are called up for duty. Whilst employers can receive up to £110 per day for expenses in relation to additional cost of replacing that employee whilst they are on military duty, there is now an additional entitlement of up to £500 per month for each full month a reservist is absent. The £500 monthly figure is pro rata for parts of the month or part-time workers. This additional entitlement is a welcome change for employers!

A further change in relation to employees who are members of the reserve forces is that from 1st October 2014 they are protected from being dismissed because of their membership. There is no 24 month qualifying period for the employees to gain protection from unfair dismissal and so we recommend you take advice on dismissing reservists, even if they are ‘short service’. Membership of the Reserve Forces means being in the Territorial Army, Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marines Reserve or Royal Auxiliary Air Force.