Publication:Sea Talk Winter 2004/Shipload of Reserves
By Office of CAPT Mike Burton, RANR,
Chief Staff Officer (Reserves)
Directorate of Navy Personnel and Training
There's a whole shipload or more of Reserves out there, helping support Navy's efforts.
The Naval Reserve is contributing strongly to Navy's outputs, with, as at May 2004, 324 Reserves undertaking Continuous Full Time Service.
Navy also has an integrated Reserve structure, with about 690 positions that can be "job shared" for part-time employment.
It is expected that when these positions are fully occupied, about 2000 reserves will be employed on a part-time or casual basis.
The Navy Reserve salary allocation for the current financial year is $11.8 million. Reserves have provided Navy with an amount of service equivalent to 570 full-time personnel in financial year 2003-04. Reserve retention rates remain high - in fact all service categories have experienced growth.
There are four budgeted Reserve employment programs:
- Funded Reserve Commitment
- PN Relief
- Project Program and
- CFTS.
Since May 1, funded Reserve commitment positions have been fully integrated into Navy's structure, with all positions aligned to Navy's capability outcomes.
PN Relief is a means by which managers obtain Reserve support when a permanent member is on approved absence such as recreation leave or a training course.
The Project Program is a scheme that provides funding for part-time employment of Reservists on a specific project or task.
Reserve personnel serving CFTS are counted among PN numbers and are paid from PN funds. They are filling permanent positions for which no PN member is available.
The Employer Support Scheme was introduced in 2001 and refined in 2003. The scheme was created to compensate employers who support the absence of their employees for Reserve service.
ESP is available for all categories of Reserve service short of call out and is paid for the third and subsequent weeks of Reserve service to a maximum of 18 months.
The payments, which are taxable, equate to the indexed average weekly full-time adult wage. Within Navy, the approval and administration of ESP has been centralised into a single office at Maritime Headquarters in Sydney. This centralisation ensures consistent and timely turnaround of claims.
Point of contact for ESP claims is
CPO Paul Lunt,
Telephone (02) 93594004,
Email paul.lunt@defence.gov.au.
Navy is actively working towards raising a Specialist Reserve. This category is intended for personnel who have specialist civilian skills that cannot be sourced from within Navy. The case for a Specialist Reserve is scheduled to be considered by CNSAC in the third quarter of this year.
