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NERP status stands for New Entrant Rate of Pay.

If you look at your payslip, you will see a section about three lines down, in the middle, and it will say Or Main/NERP of 7, or it will say Or Main/02 for example. If your payslip says NERP you are still considered a new entrant, or trainee if you like, if it says 02 for example, that means you are on pay grade 2 of 7 and you are a fully employed member of the forces.

Why this is important is simple. When you join you go through 14 weeks or so of training, depending on where you underwent basic training. Then you pass out, and most people assume that as soon as you have passed out you are fully trained and are now on the regular pay system, however it doesn’t quite work like that. You will have a period between passing out and being assigned to your new unit, many soldiers will have to undergo Phase 2 training at their selected Cap Badge’s Phase 2 training establishment. During this time you are still considered to be a new entrant which means some lenders will not consider you as a customer until you are off NERP status and on pay grade 1 as a minimum. At this stage of your career there is no cast iron guarantee you will come off NERP status, and if you don’t, you may find yourself without a job and unable to repay your finance agreement.

This is a cause of confusion for many new recruits, as they feel that as they have passed out, and often their wages have risen, they are in full time and sorted. When it comes to paying out finance agreements, their applications can be put on hold, or declined, because they do not realise they are still in New Entrant status.

It isn’t always a problem, and some lenders will consider applications even if you are in NERP status, but it is important that you know the difference, and declare the correct status at the application stage, otherwise when it comes to providing paperwork to complete your application you may get a nasty surprise, and a potential delay or decline processing your agreement.

This is easy to find out as it is printed on you pay slip as mentioned above, also, if you have been in the forces for over 9 months (excluding any periods of medical delays and recovery time), you are probably out of NERP anyway. Checking this takes only a few seconds and can save you, and the lender, considerable wasted time in the event the declared information on your application is wrong.