Hard-up soldiers need food vouchers

Updated 23.08 Sun May 11 2008

Some soldiers are so hard-up they are having to be issued with food vouchers to pay for their meals, an internal Army report has revealed.

The briefing paper, drawn up for the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, warned that increasing numbers of soldiers are now close to the Government's definition of poverty.

"Some soldiers were finding that by the end of the month they had run out of money and had nothing left to pay for food" - internal Army report

It said that growing numbers were being forced to leave the service because they could not afford to bring up a family on Army pay.

The briefing paper highlighted the way that some soldiers had been running into financial difficulties since the introduction of a Pay As You Dine (PAYD) scheme.

Under the new system soldiers who are not on active duty now pay for each meal they eat in the mess rather than a flat rate covering all their meals.

However the paper discloses that some soldiers were finding that by the end of the month they had run out of money and had nothing left to pay for food.

As a result commanders had been forced to set up local "Hungry Soldier" schemes, where troops are issued with vouchers to pay for their meals which are then deducted from their future pay.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "No service man or woman ever goes hungry. For a variety of reasons, a very small number may find that at times they need assistance. The voucher scheme allows them to purchase food and pay for it from their next pay packet."