If a Reservist employee is called up for service

You can claim financial assistance from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) while your Reservist employees are away. This includes claims for:

• Advertising or agency fees for recruiting a replacement. These are uncapped.
• The extra cost is over and above their salary for paying a temporary replacement while they are mobilised. This can be up to £110 per day or around £40,000 per annum.
• Retraining for the Reservists on their return, if appropriate.

Additional financial support for employers

Changes that came into effect on 1 October 2014 mean SMEs and equivalent-sized charities and partnerships will be allowed to claim up to £500 for each month their Reservist employee is mobilised.

You can also claim for:

• up to five days handover costs before the employee is mobilised and up to five days takeover costs after they return to work
• 75% of the costs up to a maximum of £300 for purchasing specialist clothing for a person who replaces a mobilised Reservist
• training costs (capped at £2000) for essential training to enable a replacement to fulfil a mobilised Reservist's role during mobilisation

During mobilisation, you will not have to pay the Reservist's normal salary or any company benefits that they would usually receive, such as a company car or contributions to a pension scheme.

When a Reservist is mobilised, the MoD provides an information pack to all relevant employers. This will either be sent directly to you as their employer or be included in the Reservist pack, which your employee should hand to you. This explains how you can claim for financial assistance. You should include payroll data in your claim, eg the Reservist's National Insurance number, staff number, and written evidence of their earnings.

You should make your claim within four weeks of the date of the Reservist's last day of full-time service. After this, you should ask permission from the MoD Adjudication Officer to make a late claim. Find out how to make a claim for financial assistance.

Appealing against an Adjudication Officer's decision

If you are dissatisfied with an Adjudication Officer's decision, you can appeal to the Reserve Forces Appeals Tribunal. You must make your appeal within five days of the Adjudication Officer's original decision.

The tribunals are arranged by the Department of Justice and are independent of the MoD. They comprise a legally qualified chairperson and two lay members. The hearings are informal and normally held in local industrial tribunal offices.

Read about appealing to the Reserve Forces Appeals Tribunal.

Pension arrangements during mobilisation

During mobilisation, Reservists can choose to continue paying contributions to their company pension scheme or pay into one of the Armed Forces' own pension scheme options.

The MoD will pay the employer's contributions if a Reservist continues paying into an occupational pension scheme, deducting these contributions from the Reservist's military wages. This arrangement does not apply to personal pensions.