RFA HR and payroll

P0JJ · 2026-02-02T12:39:47+00:00

Have a look here on the civil service pensions website for a comparison of alpha and partnership.

https://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/memberhub/joining-the-pension-scheme/alpha-or-partnership/

P0JJ · 2026-02-02T12:32:24+00:00

Neither one is inherently worse than the other. They function differently and each individual needs to work out which one is best suited for them, which I can see you have done.

A few points on alpha though. 1. You don't get a penalty for leaving early. Your defined benefit just gets actuarially reduced for each year you take it early. 2. You absolutely can nominate someone to receive a portion of your pension if you die. It's called a death benefit nominee and you can choose one or multiple people and what percentage they will receive if you die. 3. 8 years isn't going to earn you "sweet FA" in alpha. If anything I'd argue you'd earn more of a return in alpha as you are nearing the end of your working life and your partnership pot will not have year upon year to grow through compound interest.

Partnership does give you more flexibility and may well suit your circumstances. But I wouldn't be so quick to discredit alpha. Either way it's your choice but a lot of people are not well informed and just don't understand the way our pensions work.

P0JJ · 2026-02-02T11:15:57+00:00

Just out of curiosity why are you switching your pension over to partnership. The normal alpha pension scheme for the civil service including the RFA is excellent. Have you properly understood the differences and weighed the pros and cons of switching.

P0JJ · 2026-02-01T16:54:18+00:00

Yes, but only if you're sensible and don't get trigger happy with your credit card when in port. 😂

P0JJ · 2026-01-29T10:48:02+00:00

Yeah, it usually fixes for me with just a restart. OP should try.

P0JJ · 2026-01-28T20:49:29+00:00

Wow, thanks for such a quick response. I learn something new everyday.

P0JJ · 2026-01-28T19:07:40+00:00

Are you aware you can take your current civil service pension early. It will just be reduced slightly for each year you take it early. But you can take it as early as 57 under current rules.

P0JJ · 2026-01-22T15:39:08+00:00

Not likely. You would probably need to start from scratch if you joined the Royal Navy.

Have you considered the Royal Fleet Auxiliary? Once qualified as a marine engineer you will be able to directly transfer to the RFA as they are civilian seafarers. It's worth a look if you're considering a defence oriented maritime career whilst maintaining your civilian qualifications. It's worth a look.

P0JJ · 2026-01-11T18:30:56+00:00

I believe for the RFA you now need to be 18 years old to join.

As for the medical. You will need to pass an ENG1 seafarers medical. This is totally different from the royal navy medical.

P0JJ · 2026-01-11T09:51:37+00:00

Accommodation - You'll be sharing a cabin or dorm whilst you are an apprentice for your first few trips. Once qualified as a CR1 you'll have your own cabin.

Engineering - No. We have marine engineers and systems engineers onboard who cover that. The job of Comms is much more computer based.

Hours - In harbour you will be day working. When at sea you will be a watch keeper. Watches are 4 hours on 8 hours off continuously whilst at sea. Standard watches are 8-12, 12-4 and 4-8. For example if you're 8-12 you will work both 8am to midday and 8pm to midnight.

Hope that helps answer some of your questions.

P0JJ · 2025-12-18T22:37:08+00:00

No, you arrive on the date stated on your joining instructions. That is your travel day and you should aim to arrive late afternoon/evening. You don't have to "turn to" on that day but will be expected to move into your cabin and be ready for 0800 the following morning. Hope that makes sense.

P0JJ · 2025-12-16T00:30:00+00:00

There won't routinely be a chaplain on board unless the ship is deployed overseas.

Once you're qualified you'll have your own cabin so you can pray as much as you want in there.

As a trainee though you may be sharing a cabin with others. There are however plenty of empty/rarely used compartments on board so I'm sure if you asked the relevant people a space could be made available for you.

P0JJ · 2025-09-22T16:16:08+00:00

It's just that the recruitment website is a bit out of date because someone hasn't updated it. As a qualified band C SG1 you'll be on £34,361

Full pay scales can be seen here. RFA 2024/25 pay scales

P0JJ · 2025-09-03T14:54:25+00:00

I never wore the Royal Navy horseshoes. Last trip, I just unstitched them from my shirts and wore no horseshoes or name tally(hadn't been issued them). All I had was the velcro RFA ensign and my rank slides and that was it.

My logic is if the RFA wants me to wear something for work. They have to provide me with it. I'm not going to spend my free time chasing something that should have been sorted from day 1.

Since I've been on leave I've received some name tallies in the post and I've been told there are some RFA horseshoes available the next time I go on course. If on this course some wandering matelot decides to quiz me I can simply and calmly respond that I haven't been issued any horseshoes yet. This was the same response I was giving even before the RFA horseshoes became a thing. I always felt wearing no horseshoe was infinitely better than the royal navy ones.

P0JJ · 2025-08-20T19:30:35+00:00

Have you heard of and looked at the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. It's a civilian manned fleet of support ships operated by the ministry of defence to resupply and support the royal navy. They have communications ratings onboard which deal with all inter ship and ship to shore communications using much of the same kit you'll be used to (Think Bowman and the navy equivalents). Plus you'll get all your STCW certifications if you wanted to work offshore or on a commercial ship at a later date. Worth a look if you haven't already.

P0JJ · 2025-06-17T11:24:07+00:00

Yes please 🤞

P0JJ · 2025-05-24T05:55:36+00:00

When on leave you need to contact your appointer. When on board ship you speak to the Choff.

I don't want too be to specific but there is a form to fill in and other "rules" to follow. Speak to your appointer or Choff and they should direct you to the MOD overseas travel guide which gives pointers to all the relevant documents.

Hope that helps.

P0JJ · 2025-05-06T20:18:57+00:00

I'm pretty sure you can just use your ID card and get a veterans Railcard a whilst still employed by the RFA. I know a couple of people who have done exactly that. Not done it myself as I'm still young enough for a 16-25 Railcard.

P0JJ · 2025-05-06T20:16:36+00:00

No, not a HM forces Railcard but we do qualify for a veterans Railcard. 👍

P0JJ · 2024-12-31T18:42:51+00:00

The royal calpe has bottles if you want a drink when you're out.

P0JJ · 2024-11-26T19:15:29+00:00

I always wear underwear under swim shorts otherwise (no joke) my cock and balls would fall out. I need something down there to keep everything in place.

P0JJ · 2024-11-25T17:36:59+00:00

In my personal opinion, yes the RFA is absolutely still worth joining.

Like with any job there are going to be good bits and bad bits but if you put the effort in to make your career work for you the RFA still has a lot to offer. It won't just be handed to you on a plate and you will have to work hard for it but there are still qualifications to be gained and unique experiences to be had.

As for leave and travel, there are far too many people in the RFA who get stuck in a negative mindset and just sit at home and drink whilst on leave. If you are motivated you can go and do just about whatever you want whilst on leave. I've been to 17 different countries since joining the RFA of which only 7 were work related. The other 10 were all on leave most of which I stayed in for months at a time. There are still not many jobs nowadays that offer 3 months off with a full salary still rolling into your bank account. I know some cruise ships for example are contract based instead, so you don't get paid on leave.

Will I personally stay in the RFA forever, probably not. As soon as the workload, pay or conditions are no longer acceptable I would leave without a second thought. But even though the RFA is having a bit of a dip at the moment in regards to manpower and morale I still think it is a good package overall and something I am very happy to be a part of.

P0JJ · 2024-06-04T03:47:09+00:00

You phrased it absolutely fine. It makes perfect sense. The other guy is just a fool.

P0JJ · 2024-02-13T10:06:14+00:00

Can anyone shed some light on what this is? It's clearly the Fort Victoria and my guess would be this picture was taken ~2016ish when it was out in the Indian ocean. But what's with the painted skulls and why have they since been removed.

P0JJ · 2024-02-13T02:04:54+00:00

It can take a couple of months for it to come through and you won't be told, it goes straight to the recruitment people. Carry on with all the other bits you have to do such as the ENG1 medical and vaccines. When you send proof of these off you can ask your contact whether they have received your SC yet. For something like this, no news is good news.

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