Leaked memo discloses that 16,500 service personnel in total could be made redundant over the next three years
Soldiers wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq could be made redundant under secret plans being drawn up to double the job cuts in the armed forces, according to reports.
The leaking of a memo which shows that as many as 2,500 injured soldiers, including 350 who have lost a limb, could face the axe has infuriated the Ministry of Defence.
In a statement issued on Saturday morning the MoD flatly denied it has any plans to accelerate the redundancy programme. It did not deny the existence of the memo, but said it was written by a junior officer who was "misinformed".
"Beyond those already announced, there are no further army reductions planned," the statement read.
"There is absolutely no plan to change our treatment of service personnel who are wounded, injured or sick.
"Personnel injured on operations will not be included in the redundancy process while they are undergoing medical treatment. No one will leave the armed forces until they have reached a point in their recovery that is right for them.
"The information in this leaked army memo from a junior officer is incorrect."
The memo, seen by the Daily Telegraph, discloses that 16,500 service personnel in total could be made redundant over the next three years – more than double the number outlined in last year's strategic defence and security review.
The housing minister, Grant Shapps, said there was "no chance" of the original reduction plans being changed and dismissed the leaked document as "some memo that somebody junior has written".
He told Sky News: "We have been absolutely crystal clear about the reductions. We have said exactly what we are going to do and we have said that people who are injured in the course of duty will remain, whilst they are receiving whatever the hospital treatment, whatever the recovery plans, in the armed forces doing that.
"There is no chance of these people being kicked out. That is quite misleading."
The shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, warned such an accelerated redundancy programme could have "dangerous" consequences and the MoD had an obligation to honour servicemen and women who have risked their lives for the country.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "These are worrying revelations. If it is confirmed that someone who has had a very severe injury in Afghanistan or Iraq is to be sacked, this is the cruellest of all cuts.
"No one who has been seriously injured as a consequence of their service in defending our country should be sacked from our armed forces; they should be supported into other roles in the Ministry of Defence.
"This is the weekend of remembrance and ideally, we would all be remembering our forces rather than engaging in these sort of disagreements but they are very worrying revelations."
He said servicemen and women should be redeployed into new jobs although he accepted this was a "very difficult thing to do" at a time of high unemployment.
But the MoD said it had "absolutely no plan" to change the way it treated wounded, injured and sick soldiers.
Distancing itself from the contents of the memo, which was reported to have been sent to senior commanders in Afghanistan, an MoD spokeswoman said no decisions had been taken on the scale of the next tranche of redundancies.
More than 900 soldiers were among 2,870 service personnel who lost their jobs in the first round of redundancies.
The Telegraph said the memo indicated another 12,000 would be told in January that their jobs were also at risk, with 2,300 of those to be made redundant.
Among those vulnerable to compulsory redundancy were members of the "rear operations group" of fully trained personnel on standby to fill in for the dead or wounded, it suggested.
Subsequent waves could add as many as 13,000 redundancies by April 2015.
"The total number of personnel selected for redundancy in T1-4 will be approximately 15.5k–16.5k. All redundancy tranches are scheduled to be complete by Apr 15," the memo was quoted as saying.
It also stated that wounded soldiers who had been "temporarily downgraded" would not be exempt and those too injured or sick to return to service would be "looked at in more detail".
The newspaper said the suggestion wounded troops could be axed was condemned by soldiers serving in Afghanistan who were shown the memo, and armed forces families.
The head of army planning, Brigadier Richard Nugee, said: "There is absolutely no plan to change our treatment of service personnel who are wounded, injured or sick.
"We have been clear throughout the redundancy and have made clear in the House of Commons that 'every case of wounded, injured or sick will be assessed individually. No one will leave the armed forces through redundancy or otherwise until they have reached a point in their recovery where leaving the armed forces is the right decision, however long it take.'"
The news emerged as ministers sought to renew their commitment to improving access to public services, such as social housing, as the nation remembered its war dead on the anniversary of the end of the first world war.
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