{{Unreferenced, date=January 2022 The Reserve Forces Act 1996 is a piece of British legislation that provides for the maintenance and composition of the British military's Reserve Forces.

Provisions of the Act to make

''"An Act to make provision with respect to the reserve forces of the Crown and persons liable to be recalled for permanent service; to amend the provisions of the Reserve Forces Act 1980 relating to the lieutenancies; to amend the law relating to the postponement of the discharge of transfer of the reserve of regular servicemen; and for connected purposes."'' The Act was signed into law on 22 May 1996.

Composition of the Reserve

The Reserve Forces comprise: * The Reserve Naval and Marine Forces - the Royal Fleet Reserve, the

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

, and the Royal Marines Reserve. * The Reserve Land Forces - the Army Reserve (Regular) and the Territorial Army (now known as the Army Reserve). * The Reserve Air Forces - the

Air Force Reserve The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commis ...

and the

Royal Auxiliary Air Force The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), formerly the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF), together with the Air Force Reserve, is a component of His Majesty's Reserve Air Forces (Reserve Forces Act 1996, Part 1, Para 1,(2),(c)). It provides a primary rein ...

. The Royal Fleet Reserve, the Army Reserve, and the Air Force Reserve are the '' Regular Reserve'' forces, comprising men and women who previously served in the regular forces and are liable for recall to active duty as reservists. The Royal Naval Reserve, the Territorial Army, and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force are the ''

Volunteer Reserve Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group wikt:gratis, freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. O ...

'' forces, comprising men and women who are members of the volunteer forces and liable to be called for active duty. In addition the act allows for the use of Sponsored Reserves whose employer enters into a contract with the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

to provide personnel to carry out specialist tasks as part of the armed forces. Examples are the Mobile Meteorological Unit, some of the staff on

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

transport aircraft (non flight crew) and some fleet container transport ships.

External links

Reserve Forces Act 1996
British defence policymaking United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1996 Reserve forces of the United Kingdom