The Army Terms of Service Regulations 1992

Explanatory Note

(This Note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, together with the Army Terms of Service (Part-time Service in Northern Ireland) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/1366), re-enact with amendments the Army Terms of Service Regulations 1986 (S.I. 1986/2072) as amended (the 1986 Regulations). Apart from minor and drafting amendments, these Regulations make the following changes of substance in respect of enlistment in the regular army other than for part-time service in Northern Ireland.

The provision in regulation 5 of the 1986 Regulations (right to transfer to the reserve) for a soldier to consent to serve for a period of 6 or 9 years before he may give notice of his wish to transfer to the reserve is removed. Regulation 5 is also amended as a consequence of enlistment in Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps being open to men as well as women.

Regulation 8 (right of recruit to determine service) is amended in order that a female recruit’s right to determine service should be the same as that of a man.

Regulation 10 introduces a right for personnel whose service is restricted to Northern Ireland (home service) to determine their service in similar manner to the rest of the regular army, other than by way of transfer to the reserve.

Regulation 11 re-enacts regulation 10 of the 1986 Regulations and provides that, in consideration of specified matters, a person other than in home service may be restricted in the exercise of the right to transfer to the reserve, and a person in home service may be restricted in the exercise of the right to determine his service. The duration of a course of instruction, one such matter specified, is reduced from 10 to 2 weeks. The regulation further provides that a person continued in service after the completion of his term may be restricted both in the exercise of the right to be transferred to the reserve and in the right to determine his service.

The provision in the 1986 Regulations relating to women giving consent under previous enactments to be restricted in the exercise of rights to determine service has been removed as no longer applicable to any serving woman.