Army reservist is denied paternity pay after deployment ruled 'work break' from civilian day job

An army reservist has been denied paternity pay after his deployment on British operations supporting Ukraine was ruled as a "work break" from his civilian day job.

The sergeant, who has worked as a lorry driver since 2017, returned to work promptly after completing his military service.

His son was born just weeks later in February.

But HMRC told him he was not entitled to any of the two weeks' paternity pay he had expected to receive.

The tax authority classified his time serving as a "break" from his regular employment.

The father, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Sun: "Despite being mobilised for King and country, returning to work as soon as I could, and doing everything by the book, I'm now told I'm not eligible."

He added: "At a time when we should be focused on the newborn, we've instead been dealing with unnecessary financial strain and stress."

The veteran described the situation as "box-ticking, without any regard for real-world circumstances or the commitments of reservists".

Labour MP Maya Ellis condemned the decision as "shocking" and warned that serving families can "slip through the cracks."

She added: "The nation should have their backs."

The Dad Shift, a campaign group, has warned that this "ridiculous" loophole in the rules could potentially impact thousands of other reserve soldiers.

Defence officials are now said to be examining the circumstances of the case.

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A Government spokesman responded by saying: "If they meet standard requirements, anyone returning to their employer within six months after the end of their deployment would normally be eligible for statutory paternity pay."

The UK Army Reserve has a total volunteer strength of around 25,770 personnel.

However, of this number, around 23,680 are classified as fully trained.

Reservists make up just over a quarter of the British Army's total personnel, serving alongside more than 73,000 regular troops.

Across all branches - Army, Royal Navy and RAF - the volunteer reserve force is believed to stand at roughly 34,000, with 137,100 full-time personnel across all sections of the armed forces.

Since taking power, Labour has attempted to boost servicemen numbers with a recruitment drive - but figures in November showed the number of personnel had grown by a mere 240 troops over the previous year.

The poor results meant that Britain was left with its smallest number of fully-trained soldiers in over 200 years.

One retired Army officer laid the blame at the door of the education system, telling GB News that educators had been "teaching children to be ashamed of British history" for the past two decades.

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