The Armed Forces (Discharge and Transfer to the Reserve Forces) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
The Armed Forces (Discharge and Transfer to the Reserve Forces) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, effective March 24, 2025, amend the 2009 regulations.
Key changes include removing the requirement for place of enlistment and officer conduct assessment from discharge certificates and replacing gendered language with gender-neutral terms throughout the 2009 regulations.
The amendments aim to improve efficiency and ensure inclusivity.
These regulations apply to England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and British overseas territories (excluding Gibraltar).
Arguments For
Improved efficiency: Removing the requirement for the place of enlistment and signed conduct assessments streamlines the discharge process, saving administrative time and resources.
Modernized language: Updating to gender-neutral language ensures inclusivity and reflects contemporary societal norms.
Legal compliance: The amendments are made under the authority of the Armed Forces Act 2006, ensuring the regulations remain legally sound and aligned with existing legislation.
Reduced bureaucracy: Simplifying the discharge certificate reduces unnecessary paperwork and administrative burden for both service personnel and the Ministry of Defence.
Arguments Against
Potential for loss of information: Removing the place of enlistment might hinder historical record-keeping or future research.
Concerns about conduct assessment removal: Some may argue that removing the officer's conduct assessment could impact the thoroughness of discharge procedures and potentially overlook crucial personnel information.
Unforeseen consequences: While no significant impact is foreseen, unforeseen complications could arise from updated language or removal of data fields from the certificate. Careful monitoring may be required.
Minor administrative burden: Despite streamlining the process, some minor administrative adjustments will be required to implement the changes.
- Citation, commencement and extent (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Armed Forces (Discharge and Transfer to the Reserve Forces) (Amendment) Regulations 2025. (2) These Regulations come into force on 24th March 2025. (3) These Regulations extend to England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the British overseas territories except Gibraltar.
This section establishes the title, effective date, and geographical scope of the regulations.
The regulations are officially named the Armed Forces (Discharge and Transfer to the Reserve Forces) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 and will take effect on March 24, 2025.
They apply across most of the UK and several British territories, but exclude Gibraltar.
- Amendment of the Armed Forces (Discharge and Transfer to the Reserve Forces) (No. 2) Regulations 2009 The Armed Forces (Discharge and Transfer to the Reserve Forces) (No. 2) Regulations 2009 are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 5.
This section indicates that the following sections will amend the Armed Forces (Discharge and Transfer to the Reserve Forces) (No. 2) Regulations 2009.
It serves as an introductory statement to the specific changes.
- Amendment to regulation 2 (interpretation) In regulation 2(2)(b), for “Director of Manning (Army)” substitute “Head of Personnel Policy (Army)”.
This section updates the title of a specific position within the Army, replacing "Director of Manning (Army)" with "Head of Personnel Policy (Army)" within regulation 2(2)(b) of the 2009 regulations.
- Amendment to regulation 6 (certificate of discharge) In regulation 6(1)— (a) in sub-paragraph (b) omit “and place”; (b) omit sub-paragraph (c).
This section modifies regulation 6(1) of the 2009 regulations concerning discharge certificates.
It removes the requirement for the certificate to include the place of enlistment (sub-paragraph (b)) and removes sub-paragraph (c) entirely.
- Substitution of gender-neutral language (1) In regulations 2(2), 3, 4, 5(1), 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 18, 20(5) and 21(1), in each place it occurs, for “him” substitute “them”. (2) In regulation 4, in both places those words occur, for “he consents” substitute “they consent”. (3) In regulations 4, 5, 6(1), 7, 8, 13(3), 14, 18, 19 and 20(3), in each place it occurs, for “his” substitute “their”. (4) In regulations 4, 5(1), 18 and 21(1), in each place it occurs, for “he shall” substitute “they shall”. (5) In regulations 4, 6(1) and 8(8), in each place it occurs, for “he is” substitute “they are”. (6) In regulation 5(1), for “he intends” substitute “they intend”. (7) In regulations 7(4) and 20(3), for “he wishes” substitute “they wish”. (8) In regulation 8— (a) in paragraph (1), in both places those words occur, for “he would” substitute “they would”; (b) in paragraph (6)— (i) for “he could” substitute “they could”; (ii) in both places those words occur, for “he had” substitute “they had”; (c) in paragraph (7)— (i) for “he makes” substitute “they make”; (ii) for “he may” substitute “they may”. (9) In regulation 18(5), for “he has” substitute “they have”. (10) In regulation 20— (a) in paragraph (2), for “he belongs” substitute “they belong”; (b) in each place it occurs, for “he was” substitute “they were”. (11) In regulation 21(1), for “he be” substitute “they be”.
This section comprehensively replaces gendered pronouns and verb conjugations with gender-neutral alternatives across numerous sections of the 2009 regulations.
The goal is to update the language for greater inclusivity and to reflect current usage.
The changes are detailed across subsections (1) through (11), specifying the exact regulations and instances affected.
On Behalf of the Defence Council Alistair Carns Roland Walker Members of the Defence Council Ministry of Defence 25th February 2025
This section shows the signatures and affiliations of those who authorized these regulations on behalf of the Defence Council and dates the document.
Explanatory Note (This note is not part of the Regulations) These Regulations are made under the Armed Forces Act 2006 (c. 52) and amend the Armed Forces (Discharge and Transfer to the Reserve Forces) (No. 2) Regulations 2009 (“the 2009 Regulations”) (S.I. 2009/1091). The Regulations remove the requirement that a certificate of discharge must contain the place of enlistment and a signed assessment by an officer as to the discharged person’s conduct and character. The Regulations further update the title of Head of Personnel Policy (Army) and ensure gender-neutral language is used throughout the 2009 Regulations. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.
This explanatory note provides context and summarizes the key changes made by the regulations; it clarifies that the amendments simplify discharge certificates, update the title of the Head of Personnel Policy (Army), and align language for gender neutrality.
The note also clarifies that a full impact assessment was not deemed necessary due to minimal foreseeable impact on various sectors.