Servicemen and women to be offered time off to spend with family as part of pilot scheme to modernise armed forces

British military personnel will be allowed to work a three-day week and pull out of frontline duties as part of a pilot scheme currently being tested.

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All personnel, including Special Air Service troops, RAF pilots and Royal Marines, will be allowed to take 93 days a year off in order to spend more time with family as part of the trial. The move is the latest step in modernising the military and cutting costs at a time when the fight against Islamic State is its only combat operation. Around 500 troops remain in Afghanistan in a mentoring and training capacity to the country’s Taliban-threatened army, down from 9,500 in 2009.

The British army has 139,420 full-time trained personnel on its books, down by 1.3% on January 2016. The army is estimated to be the smallest it has been since the beginning of the Napoleonic wars at the start of the 19th century.

The Flexible Duties Trial document, which the MoD says was leaked to the Mail on Sunday, will also cut soldiers’ tax-free bonuses of up to £50 per day if they choose to reduce their hours.

In addition, the newspaper reported how troops involved in the campaign against Isis would be entitled to “opt out”.

But the Guardian understands requests by personnel to cut their working hours will be looked at on a case by case basis by their superior officer. A request is likely to be refused if the individual is already deployed or committed to a campaign.

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“Every member of Britain’s armed forces taking part in this pilot could be required to deploy on operations at any time should the need arise,” said an MoD spokesman. “This pilot is part of a modern offer to help Britain’s world-class armed forces keep the broadest range of people and give them and their families the broadest service opportunities.”

The MoD also said soldiers would have to apply for this “limited period of reduced liability”.

Col Richard Kemp, who served between 1977 and 2006 and was commander of British forces in Afghanistan, criticised the trial. “This is absolutely incredible,” he told the Mail on Sunday. “How can it do anything but undermine our national defence? Our armed forces are already tiny, yet we’re going to give people exemptions from frontline operations.”

In a tweet, he said the next step would be an army which knocks off work at 5pm.