Wayne Cadman
Naval Service FOI Cell
Navy Command Headquarters
Navy Command
MP 1-4
Leach Building
Whale Island
PORTSMOUTH PO2 8BY
Telephone: 02392 625081
Military: 93832 5081
Our Ref: 22-12-2008-071924-005
DII: FLEET-DCS-INFO-FOI1
E-mail: [email address]
08 January 2009
Ms Katherine
Via E-mail: [FOI #5055 email]
Dear Ms Katherine
Request for Information
Thank you for your request for information received 22 December 2008 regarding RFA terms and
conditions in relation to sick pay, pensions and job movements. Your enquiry has been considered
to be a request for information in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) seafarers are Ministry of Defence civilian employees with pay and
terms and conditions of service that reflect their core function as seafarers. However, because of
the unique nature of the work of the RFA the organisation is viewed as a ‘Non Standard
Occupational Group’ whose terms and conditions of service vary from those covering ‘main stream’
MoD civil servants.
RFA employees are members of the Principle Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) and
therefore terms and conditions of service regarding sick pay and pensions are the same as those
for all MoD civilian employees.
RFA employees can apply and be considered for posts within the wider Civil Service under the
terms and conditions of the post advertised, however, as members of a ‘Non Standard
Occupational Group’ they are unable to transfer on RFA pay and conditions of service.
I hope that this response answers your request in full, however if you are unhappy, or you wish to
complain about any aspect of the handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first
instance. If informal resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for
an independent internal review by contacting the Director of Information Exploitation, 6th Floor,
MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail [email address] ). Please note that any
request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on which the
attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end.
If you remain unhappy following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the Information
Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please note
that the Information Commissioner will not investigate the case until the internal review process
has been completed. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can
be found on the Commissioner’s website, http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk .
Yours sincerely
Wayne Cadman
The Constitution Unit, a research body at University College London, is carrying out an independent
evaluative study of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in co-operation with a number of public
authorities, including the Ministry of Defence. An important part of the evaluation process is gathering
the experiences and opinions of FOI requesters like you. Any information you provide will only be seen
by the Constitution Unit and will be handled in accordance with its privacy policy explained in the survey.
The Ministry of Defence will only see the published results: no individual responses will be visible to us
and your participation will have no effect on your future dealings with the Ministry.
If you would like to take part in this study, please visit the following link to be taken directly to the survey:
http://tinyurl.com/6prff8. Or, if you prefer, contact Ben Worthy at [email address] or on 020 7679
4974 to ask more about the study.
If you have filled this survey out before, we invite you to fill it out again in light of the recent response to
your request.
