Strategic Review of UK Reserve Forces

The Strategic Review of the United Kingdom's Reserve Forces is designed to ensure that our Reserve Forces are in the best shape to meet Defence's current and future needs.

Tri Service Crest

Our Reserve Forces comprise both volunteer (primarily the Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marines Reserve, Territorial Army, and Royal Auxiliary Air Force) and ex-regular reservists.

The Review seeks to ensure that: we gain the best out of our Reservists; their training and further opportunities are as good as they can be; Reserve Forces are structured, managed and equipped to deliver the capability that Defence needs.

Timelines and Considerations

The Review of the UK's Reserve Forces commenced in April 2008 and will report later in the year. The Service Chiefs are in full support, noting that the review is policy-led and not resource-driven and that it represents an opportunity to look at the Reserves on their own merits and in their own right. It will be informed by significant operational lessons and trends, as well as the better management information now available.

It also follows recent internal work confirming that in broad terms our existing Reserve Forces policies remain sound, and clarifying the policy starting points for those aspects that would benefit from further development.

Reservists provide capability towards Aero Medical Evacuation of casualties to the UK

The Review's broad remit includes:

• How best to refine the balance between the Regular and Reserve forces with a view to providing the required levels of capability and readiness.

• Options for closer integration of Reserves and Regular units to gain greater utility of Reservists at all scales of operations.

• How to capitalise on Reservists' civilian skills with the consent of the reservist and their civilian employer where appropriate.

• Which niche capabilities might best be filled by the Volunteer Reserves, particularly in the light of current operations.

• The degree to which Reservists should be used in stabilisation tasks - supporting one of the key implications for Defence arising from the recently published National Security Strategy.

• Improvements to the Civil Contingencies Reaction Force concept with a view to providing a flexible tool that ensures the optimum use of Reservists in times of crisis at home, without affecting their utility for primary overseas tasking.

• The continued validity of current Sponsored Reserves and Full Time Reserve Service models within the Illustrative framework defined in Future Reserves.

• The degree to which reservists can be managed flexibly and, outside niche capabilities, integrated with their Regular counterparts where possible, seeking to minimise the duplication of overheads in infrastructure, training delivery and the chain of command.

Deployed Reservist Force Protection: landrover in the desert environment

Regular Force Protection capability is augmented and delivered by Reservists.

Consultation and Communication

Reservists mobilised for operations draw strength from the support they receive from their families, their employers, and the wider reserve community. This position is fully acknowledged and to ensure the review is successful, the intent is to engage with key stakeholders and consult extensively.

Within this site, links will enable you to communicate with the Review Team and access documents as they come available.

Contact the Review Team by post or via the Team Mailbox (See under Contacts on the right).

Contact Us

Strategic Review of Reserves Team

c/o DRFC

Ministry of Defence

Main Building Level 8, Zone C

Whitehall

London

SW1A 2HB

Key Event Dates

12/05/08 - First set of strategic Questions to Front Line Commands

23/05/08 - Second set of strategic Questions to Front Line Commands

02/06/08 - 17/06/08 – UK wide visit and briefing programme

17/06/08 - Reserves Review Steering Group

30/06/08 - Reserves Steering Group

10/07/08 to 23/07/08 - Strategic Workshop with Front Line Commands

30/07/08 - Analysis of Front Line Commands' Responses to Strategic Questions

Oct 08 - Review Team/Front Line Command Meetings

13/10/08-05/11/08 - Second UK wide briefing and visit programme

2009 - Review to Report

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Strategic Review of UK Reserve Forces

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