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Active-Duty Deployment: What Payments Do I Receive?

Basic Pay: All active members receive basic pay. It is the bulk of their pay, and it is based on rank and length of service. Reservists receive one day’s basic pay for each training day, just like their Active Duty counterparts.

Long Separation Allowance (LSA): This is to compensate for separation in addition to that compensated for by the X-Factor added to basic pay. It is generally paid in increasing amounts according to the amount of separation you experience throughout your service.

Operational Allowance (OA): This is a flat rate payment for every day you serve in Iraq, Afghanistan and for certain tasks in Yemen.

Concessionary Families Travel Warrants: If you are deployed for over four months your spouse can apply for a travel warrant or motor mileage claim to travel to see their parents, parents-in-law or Nominated Next of Kin/Emergency Contact. It is possible for the travel to be reversed to allow their parents etc to visit them and the number of travel warrants increases the longer you are deployed.

Post Operational Leave (POL): This is leave given after you return from deployment and all personnel serving a six month tour are granted 20 working days of leave. If a public holiday occurs during the leave period they are added to the leave entitlement. If you do not complete six months of deployment you will be given one day POL for every nine days deployed.

Council Tax Relief: You are entitled to a tax-free rebate on the cost of your council tax for the period that you are on deployment.

Check the Direct.gov website for further information.

Local Overseas Allowance (LOA): This might be payable to service members who are deployed in areas that don’t qualify for the Deployment Welfare Package (DWP) (see below), such as Germany and Cyprus.

Deployment Welfare Package (DWP): This package is not actually a payment but a way of allowing service members on eligible operations to have some home comforts. According to the MOD the benefits for a six-month tour include:
• Access to telephones for private use
• Welfare telephone allowance of 30 minutes per week
• Blueys
• E-blueys
• Sky TV
• DVD and videos
• BFBS and SSVC Radio
• Rest and Recuperation (R&R)
• Post Operational Tour Leave (20 days for a 6 month tour)
• Concessionary Travel for Famillies (Two trips per 6 month tour)
• Internet facilities
• Newspapers

Special Pay: There are various types of pay that are associated with particular trades such as flying pay, diving and submarine pay.

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