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• In Memory

  It is almost 21 years to the day when my terminal leave expired and I ceased being paid by the Royal Navy. That event was in July 1983. I have always kept everything to do with the navy and my involvement with it, which includes all my pay and tax statements. The first pictures are of my P60 for the years 1981/1982 and 1982/1983, the last of my career.

  The P60 on the left (81/82) shows me receiving £20027.53 gross for the year, whilst the second (82/83), a year later, a gross income of £16107.54. An anomaly? It looks like one doesn't it? But no. Both include BSA (Boarding School Allowance), and whilst the 82/83 should be a greater gross sum, having had a pay rise in the April of 1982, it is less because one of my sons left school and went off to university which reduced the BSA element.

  In both cases, if the BSA element were removed, the gross income would be somewhat less than £11900 gross p.a. For the rest of this page, I will assume that all of us receive BASIC PAY only and will ignore ALL other allowances.

  In the spring of 1983 we got our pay rise as recommended by the Armed Forces Pay Review Board (AFPRB) which was not ungenerous. It raised our daily rate from £28.54 to £30.85, our daily LSP (Long Service Pay) from £1.45 to £1.55, but kept our KUA (Kit Upkeep Allowance) the same at £10.02 per month. This resulted in a gross annual increase of £861.40: in 1983 not to be sniffed at.

  The next two pictures show my monthly pay sheet for the months of April 1983 (before the April 83 pay rise figures were calculated by computer - they are included in Calculation of Pay for May by hand in bottom right hand panel) and for July 1983, my last one in the navy.

  Using the right hand picture only (July 1983) - the left hand picture simply shows the pre April 1983 pay rise figures - you can see that my annual gross earnings were ((365 x £30.85) + (365 x £1.55) + (12 x £10.02)) = £11825.79 and that was the gross salary of a Fleet Chief Petty Officer, Basic Pay (A) or Scale (A), a rate equivalent to the highest grade of Warrant Officer in the Royal Navy today (i.e. July 2004).

  Now let us look at what the modern day equivalent to a FCPO Scale (A) is earning as a basic salary.

  I can find no reference to LSP (Long Service Pay) nor to KUA (Kit Upkeep Allowance) so I assume that both are now integral elements of the basic salary.

  As seen below, today's warrant officer has many grades, and not just many grades, but two quite clear pay bands, HIGHER and LOWER RANGE. Again, so as to compare like with like, I will chose to ignore the LOWER range and concentrate on the UPPER, it being the equivalent to a FCPO Scale (A).

  A LEVEL 7 warrant officer, whose equivalent in the old days was a FCPO serving until he was aged 55 - the normal time for a FCPO to retire then was at age 45 after 27 years mans time from the age of 18 - is shown as earning £101.43 per day, corresponding to an annual gross salary of £37021.95. A LEVEL 1 warrant officer ( I presume on appointment) earns £91.30 per day and £33324.50 gross p.a. To give a fair and balanced comparison, I will take the average of their earnings, for clearly, as it used to be, not all warrant officers will serve long enough to become top of the earning league.

  Those averages are £96.36 and £35173.22

  Now we are in a position to compare and to state a percentage increase for the period (21 years).

  In 1983, the salary being considered was £11825.75 and today it is £35173.22 so \ there has been a rise of 197.43% representing a STEADY annual hike of 5.75% THROUGHOUT the whole period (that's 5.75% each and every year on previous year earnings), or, put another way, each and every year, they have received an extra £1111.78.

  That is an increase well deserved, and whilst £36K is a decent salary away from the likes of the City of London, it is not over generous for the training they have received, for the appointments they hold and for their service given to Crown and country.

Nice to know that they are treating you boys and girls decently. Cheers to you.

  As the Boy from the Black Stuff (Tar) would have said "give us a job..I can do that"