Armed Forces: Allowances
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service personnel have received the tax free operational allowance in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Al Carns
The number of Service personnel who have received tax free operational allowance in each of the last five financial years including the financial year 2025-26 to date, can be found in the table below.
Financial Year | Number of Employees |
2020-21 | 5336 |
2021-22 | 5283 |
2022-23 | 3015 |
2023-24 | 2108 |
2024-25 | 2525 |
2025-26 to date | 435 |
Service personnel on deployed operations in the following Specified Operational Locations (SOL) qualify for the payment of Operational Allowance:
Chad (all locations)
Egypt (Sinai only)
Iraq (all locations)
Mali (all locations)
Somalia (all locations)
South Sudan (all locations)
Democratic Republic of Congo (Goma only)
Lebanon (Naquora only) – backdated to 7 Oct 23
Red Sea (within operational areas) – backdated to 19 Oct 23
I am withholding the names of some locations for the purpose of safeguarding national security, as disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
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