Army Policy and Secretariat
Army Headquarters
IDL 24 Blenheim Building
Marlborough Lines
Andover
Hampshire, SP11 8HJ
United Kingdom
Ref: Army/PolSec/M/M/FOI2023/01047
E-mail
: xxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Website:
www.army.mod.uk
Phillip Osment
request-941683-
21 February 2023
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Mr Osment
Thank you for your email of 25 January 2023 in which you requested the following
information:
Please could I have data on career development information for Vehicle Mechanics
(VMs) in the REME for the period 2017 to 2022 as follows:
1) The number of applicants to join the VM trade in the years 2017-2022.
2) The number of applicants enlisting in the years 2017-2022.
3) Average career progression, by length of service in each rank, and percentage
chance of achieving each promotion.
4) Average length of total reckonable service on discharge from REME.
5) Criteria for VMs converting from VEng(Short) to VEng(Long) and numbers
eligible/granted for the period 2017-2022.
6) Nos of VMs eligible for selection to artificer grade and the numbers accepted for the
period 2017-2022.
I am treating your correspondence as a request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) 2000. A search for the information has now been completed within the
Ministry of Defence, and I can confirm that the information in scope of your request is held and
is below in Annex A. Under section 40 (personal information) of the FOIA 2000, figures that
are less than 5 have been replaced with “~” to prevent the disclosure of personal information.
If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the
first instance. Fol owing this, if you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or
the content of this response, you can request an independent internal review by contacting
the Information Rights Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall,
SW1A 2HB (e-mail
xxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xx). Please note that any request for an internal
review should be made within 40 working days of the date of this response.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly
to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of
Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate
your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and powers of the
Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website at
https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely,
Personnel 5
Army Policy & Secretariat
Annex A
1)
The number of applicants to join the VM trade in the years 2017-2022.
Stream
RY16/17
RY17/18
RY18/19
RY19/20
RY20/21
RY21/22
Regular Soldier
1832
1507
2219
1910
1857
1032
Reserve Soldier
460
273
327
223
148
87
Total
2330
1799
2565
2154
2024
1125
Source: Army Recruiting and Initial Training Command (ARITC)
2)
The number of applicants enlisting in the years 2017-2022.
Table 1. Army Regular Trade Trained and Non Trade Trained REME VM Intake each
year, 1 January 2017 - 30 September 2022
Year
Intake
1 January - 30 September 2022
178
2021
276
2020
449
2019
381
2018
238
2017
359
Source: Analysis (Army)
3)
Average career progression, by length of service in each rank, and percentage
chance of achieving each promotion.
Table 2: Army Regular REME Other Ranks Career Progressions, 2013 – 2020
Average progress to given
% chance of promotion
% chance of promotion
Rank
rank from Pte
to given rank from Pte
to that rank from the
rank below
Lance Corporal
3 years 8 months
60.7%
60.7%
Corporal
7 years 3 months
36.4%
60.5%
Sergeant
11 years 7 months
20.0%
65.3%
Staff Sergeant
15 years 6 months
11.1%
59.5%
Warrant Officer, Class 2
18 years 8 months
7.4%
74.0%
Warrant Officer, Class 1
20 years 6 months
4.6%
68.8%
Source: Analysis (Army)
Table 3: Army Regular REME VM Other Ranks Average Years Length of Service to
Paid Rank Promotion from 1 October 2015 to 1 October 2022
Average progress to given
Paid Rank
rank from Pte
Lance Corporal
4 years
Corporal
9 years
Sergeant
13 years
Staff Sergeant
17 years
Warrant Officer, Class 2
20 years
Source: Analysis (Army)
-
Please note that these figures are not comparable with Career Progression figures
provided above.
4)
Average length of total reckonable service on discharge from REME.
Table 4: Average Length of Service of Army Regular Trade Trained REME VM on
Outflow, 1 October 2015 - 30 September 2022
Average Length of Service
9 years
Source: Analysis (Army)
5) Criteria for VMs converting from VEng(Short) to VEng(Long) and numbers
eligible/granted for the period 2017-2022.
-
Please be advised that it is not possible to convert from VEng(Short) straight to
VEng(Long). You would have to go from a VEng(S), to VEng(Full) and then to a
VEng(Long) contact. However, Other Ranks may only convert directly from Versatile
Engagement (Short) to Versatile Engagement (Long) in exceptional circumstances.
Table: 5 Army Regular Trade Trained REME VM Conversions from Versatile
Engagement (Short) to Versatile Engagement (Long), 1 January 2017 - 30 September
2022
Date
VEng(Short) to VEng(Long)
conversions
1 January 2017 - 30 September 2022
~
Source: Analysis (Army)
Table 6: Army Regular Trade Trained REME VM Conversions from Versatile
Engagement (Short) to Versatile Engagement (Full), and from Versatile Engagement
(Full) to Versatile Engagement (Long) 2017-2022
Year
Accepted conversion
Accepted conversion from
from VEng(Short) to
VEng(Full) to VEng(Long)
VEng(Full)
2017
24
-
2018
20
-
2019
180
~
2020
199
31
2021
98
9
2022
68
-
Source: REME
-
“~” indicated less than 5 and “-“ indicated 0.
REME
From/To
VEng(Short) to
VEng(Short) to
VEng(Full) to
Open/Notice to
VEng(Full) –
VEng(Full) –
VEng(Long)
VEng(Full)
Automatic
Conditional Selection
Selection Process
Process
Criteria for
Technicians:
Rank / trade class
Offers will be made
Offers will be made
Conversion
Corporal Class 1
below that of the
only if specific
to all personnel
Automatic Selection
workforce
provided they:
Non-Technicians:
Process
requirements exist
Lance Corporal
as stipulated by
Have served a
Class 1
LoS 7-11
REME WF Plans.
minimum of 3 years
Minimum SJAR
Reckonable Service
grading of B
in REME
LoS 18 and below
Have a minimum
SJAR grading of B
6) Nos of VMs eligible for selection to artificer grade and the numbers accepted for the
period 2017-2022.
Table 7. Army Regular Trade Trained REME VM changing Main Trade to Artificer, 1
January 2017 - 2022
Year
Eligible Selected
2017
N/A
58
2018
238
20
2019
235
39
2020
226
42
2021
197
43
2022
202
42
Source: Analysis (Army) and REME
-
The statistics for those eligible in 2017 are unavailable.
-
The statistics for those selected in 2022 is from 1 January – 30 September.
Notes/Caveats relating to Part 2 onwards:
1.
Figures are for the Regular Army only and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Full Time
Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves, but includes
those personnel that have transferred from GURTAM to UKTAP.
2.
In Table 2, the career forecast is not based on the actual experience of any one
individual, but rather is based on historical behaviour of individuals with similar
characteristics (in terms of Arm/Service, gender, length of service and rank). The data
provided for the chances of retention and chances of promotion are produced using historic
data from 1 April 2013 –31 March 2020. The use of seven years data reduces fluctuations
caused by one-off factors and covers a wider period of the economic cycle and policy
changes which may influence outflow. By considering a cohort of individuals with the similar
characteristics average career projections have been calculated.
3.
In Table 2, '% chance of promotion to that rank from the rank below' considers the
Arm/Service as a whole and is not specific to LoS. It is based on Trained and Untrained
personnel within the Arm/Service.
4.
In Table 3 and 4, Length of service has been calculated using entry date. There are
known problems with the entry date information extracted from JPA which is supposed to
reflect their 'current entry date' but if personnel have transferred to the Army from another
Service, served under an alternative assignment type (e.g. Reserve forces), are re-entrants
or have transferred from Other Ranks to Officers, their entry date may correspond to any of
these events. The resulting LoS may reflect their current period of service, include previous
service, or it may be the time that has elapsed since they first joined the Armed Forces,
irrespective of any break in service. This is not equivalent to Reckonable Service, which
reflects the years and days worked by an individual as a member of an Armed Forces
Pension Scheme, regardless of whether this was in another Service, another Army
population (including the Volunteer Reserve, after 1 April 2015) or whether an individual has
left and rejoined the Armed Forces.
5.
Other Ranks may only convert from Versatile Engagement (Short) to Versatile
Engagement (Long) in exceptional circumstances.
6.
"~" denotes fewer than 5.
