National Secretary Steve Jary said: “It is now three months since the announcement that 1 in 3 jobs are to go. Prospect has still not had a letter from MOD describing its plans for the management of the surplus, no details of the targets which have been given to the eleven big budget areas in the department and no rationale for the reductions, other than that they are a political imperative.”

“Even though the department acknowledges that it is in a pre-redundancy situation, it refuses to operate its own redundancy agreement and has instead launched an early release scheme, which means there will be little opportunity to make informed decisions on which specialists it needs within the department to ensure it maintains its crucial intelligent customer role.”

Prospect believes this is unacceptable. MOD Group President Alan Grey said: ”MOD scored very badly on both leadership and change management in a staff survey a few months ago. With this insult, it is obvious that they have taken no notice. Can you imagine any other large employer treating its employees with such contempt?"

“MOD civil servants have long been recognised as loyal to the armed forces. This commitment is being undermined by these cuts and by the way they are being pursued. Morale is already at rock-bottom and the department is making it worse.”

The ballot will begin in mid-February.