Appreciation letter to Hon Jackie MP

Dear Rt. (Hon.) Jackie Doyle-Price MP,
Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gurkha Welfare (APPG),

We would like to thank you on behalf of all Gurkhas and their families for your deep commitment to Gurkha issues.

Your presentation at the House of Commons based on ‘Change Context’ is strongly logical and very highly appreciated. The current ‘Changed Context’ means that the MoD’s claim of “fair” and “legal” in the context of Nepal’s cost of living is obsolete for Gurkha veterans, most of whom have become lawful residents in the UK since 2004. Therefore, the original rationale of “fair treatment” is no longer legitimate. Hence, Gurkha pensions and welfare provisions need to be “equal” and “legal” as you stated in your presentation and debate.

Sir Gerald Howarth MP of Aldershot’s argument on Gurkhas pensions and the amount he stated is an outdated MoD version in relation to the service structure of the British Army, including Gurkhas; their service has been divided into two parts, namely initial engagement and re-engagement, which form the main basis of the Armed Forces pensions planning and calculation. The initial engagement for the 12-year point does not qualify for immediate pensions. Only the re-engagement part of the service qualifies soldiers for immediate pensions. For instance, the immediate pensions qualifying service for the Gurkha Pension Scheme (GPS) is 15 years and for the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 (AFPS75) is 22 years.

In the wider British Army, those who chose to come out of the service at the 12-year point on completion of their initial engagement used to receive a tax-free lump sum grant followed by a preserved pension at the age of 60. In the case of Gurkha soldiers, all personnel in the service were permitted to sign a 3-year re-engagement service contract after the 12-year point, as there was no provision for Gurkhas to have a preserved pension. However, the 12-year exit point cannot be compared with the immediate pensionable 15-year point, as this followed re-engagement service, which qualified Gurkha soldiers for immediate pensions similar to 22 years for British soldiers. This has been worked out in consideration of various factors including average life of the British and Nepali people as the factor of average living age plays a vital role in setting a qualifying date and an age for a pension.

We hope that the Parliamentary debate of 11 September 2014 on “Gurkha Pensions” will lead to a way to resolve remaining Gurkhas issues once and for all.

We wish you a successful visit to Nepal.

Jai Gurkha, Jai Britain-Nepal Relationship

Santosh

Santosh Thalang (Limbu)
Chief Coordinator (UK/Nepal)
Gurkha Satyagraha United Struggle Committee – UK/Nepal