Up to 2,500 troops could be drafted in to replace striking public sector staff at a cost of £10million a week, MPs have been told.
Senior defence officials confirmed the potential cost under the “military aid to civil authorities” system, known as “Maca”, to fill in for Border Force and NHS staff.
Questioning Ministry of Defence civil servants at the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Labour MP Nick Smith suggested the figure could hit £4,000 a week “per military personnel”.
The MoD’s director-general of finance, Charlie Pate, said: “Those are the kinds of sums we are looking at, yes.”
The ministry’s top civil servant David Williams outlined the help the armed forces were set to offer.
“We are providing support to help maintain essential services in three areas,” he told the committee.
“For Border Force, we have identified and trained around 600 armed forces personnel.
“My expectation is that they will be operating in support of passport control activity at major ports of entry.
“They are already trained and ready to deploy. We have identified a similar number of armed forces personnel to support the NHS, specifically through ambulance driving, and that training is underway in support of five ambulance trusts in England this week.”
The permanent secretary told MPs slightly fewer than “200 specialist fire crew” were being prepared to fill in for firefighters - bringing to 1,400 the total number of troops ready to help in striking sectors.
But Mr Williams said the number could hit 2,500.
“It is possible that there may be some requests for assistance from the devolved administrations. We have notionally earmarked up to around 2,500 troops, should they be needed,” he said.
“I am not expecting it to get that high, but we have made plans on a contingency basis in case.”
The Home Office and Department of Health would be expected to reimburse the MoD for the costs.
“We run an arrangement whereby we charge out to other government departments the full cost of military assistance, and then it is for them to accommodate within their budgets,” Mr Williams told the committee.
“That is the arrangement that we will use for this phase of industrial action.”
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Smith told the Mirror: “As well as missing their families at Christmas, our military personnel covering for striking ambulance drivers, border staff and firefighters could lead to extra costs for the health service and government departments of £10m a week.
“The Government needs to get around the table with the trade unions to help sort things out. “That sort of money could make a big difference if it was spent in a constructive way.”
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