GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE HOME GUARD
FINANCIAL COST OF THE HOME GUARD
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GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE HOME GUARD
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In November 1944
the average annual cost to the nation of each member of the
Home Guard over the previous three years was officially stated
as being £9 (about £290 in 2008 money).
This remarkably
low figure was contained in a report to Parliament by the
Select Committee for National Expenditure. The Committee also
found that the force had been economically administered and
that the decision to administer it through the Territorial
Army Association had been a wise one. It published at the
same time detailed figures for estimated Home Guard expenditure
in the current year, 1944-1945, as follows.
Cost
of the Home Guard
for the current financial year: £16,600,000
Capital
value of stores, clothing and equipment held
by the Home Guard: £60,854,000
Home
Guard strength: 1,800,000
men
DETAILED EXPENDITURE
(excluding the cost of certain services provided by the War
Department)
-Staff
(War Office, Commands and lower formations) £170,000
-Schools, travelling instructors, permanent staff,
training officers etc. £2,200,000
-Grants to Territorial Associations (Capitation for
T.A.A.
administration costs and minor works) £3,400,000
-Training grant to Commands
£165,000
-Subsistence £1,600,000
-Travelling expenses and allowances £1,300,000
-Transport (local hire by T.A.A) £400,000
-Compensation for loss of earnings £45,000
-Disability payments £120,000
-Clothing, personal equipment, general stores £2,700,000
-Practice ammunition, maintenance of war-like stores £4,500,000
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Total £16,600,000
(Multiply by about x32 for 2008 £ equivalents)
NOTES
- The capitation grant received by the Territorial Army Association
to cover administration costs was based on 39s. 6d. (£1.98)
a head for the first 1500 members of an association and 33s.
6d. (£1.68) for the remainder.
- Travelling expenses, which the Committee felt might appear
large, covered the expenses of all ranks when travelling on
duty whether by public transport or in their own cars.
- The Committee concluded that the Home Guard had been "efficiently
but not extravagantly armed".
- The allocation for shot-guns was £300,000; it was
suggested that since these weapons were urgently required
by farmers and others, they might either be returned to their
owners or put on the market at a controlled price.
- The Committee recommended that civilian accommodation requisitioned
for the Home Guard should now be returned to its owners immediately
but that T.A.A. standing camps and magazines should be retained
for postwar use wherever possible.
(Source: The
Times - 23rd November 1944)
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