The briefing paper, drawn up for the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, warned that increasing numbers of soldiers are now close to the Government's definition of poverty.

It said that growing numbers were being forced to leave the service because they could not afford to bring up a family on Army pay.

Details of the briefing paper were published by the Independent on Sunday and the Sunday Express.

It highlighted the way that some soldiers had been running into financial difficulties since the introduction of a Pay As You Dine (PAYD) scheme.

Under the new system soldiers who are not on active duty now pay for each meal they eat in the mess rather than a flat rate covering all their meals.

However the paper discloses that some soldiers were finding that by the end of the month they had run out of money and had nothing left to pay for food.

As a result commanders had been forced to set up local "Hungry Soldier" schemes, where troops are issued with vouchers to pay for their meals which are then deducted from their future pay.

The briefing paper said that the introduction of PAYD had been "divisive" and warned that it raised "duty of care" issues for the Army.

The Ministry of Defence insisted that it was only a "small number of individuals" who had "failed to manage their finances properly" who needed to apply for food vouchers.