The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has reported a steady rise in the number of civilians employed by the department over the past five years, according to new figures disclosed by Lord Coaker, Minister of State for Defence.
In response to a question posed by Lord Lee of Trafford, it was revealed that the civilian headcount as of 1 April 2024 stood at 63,702. This represents an increase of over 3,400 staff members since 2020, when the headcount was 60,256. The data shows a consistent upward trend in civilian personnel, with a notable rise in 2024 compared to previous years.
The MOD provided the following headcount figures for civilian personnel as of 1 April each year:
- 2020: 60,256
- 2021: 62,039
- 2022: 61,895
- 2023: 62,652
- 2024: 63,702
This data excludes Non-Departmental Public Bodies, short-term employees, or contractors.
What roles do MOD civilians perform?
The Ministry of Defence employs civilians in a wide variety of roles across the UK and abroad, spanning both conventional government jobs and highly specialised positions. These roles include policy, finance, human resources, IT, and project management, along with commercial and administrative positions typical of a government department.
In addition to these, the MOD also employs professionals such as doctors, dentists, teachers, police officers, and fire service personnel. There are also roles for engineers, quantity surveyors, and various other technical specialists. Apprenticeships are available in many of these areas too.
From office-based roles to highly technical positions, the MOD’s civilian workforce plays a crucial role in supporting the UK’s defence infrastructure, ensuring both operational efficiency and strategic planning are maintained at home and abroad.
Just what’s needed as the armed forces shrink to the lowest levels ever.
More snivel servants.
Will procurement get better – No
Will forces housing improve – No
Bet they all work from home as well
You know every civilian sitting at a desk is one less service person who has to, and can instead be on the front line.
So the forces have put 3,400 more uniformed personnel on the front line since 2020? That’s very nearly a brigade!
I think not.
Well if you didn’t have those civil servicents who would do their job overwise? And the person who I took over from was a aviator who is now free to complete their training.
So nearly one civil servant for every soldier?
Having worked with civil servants in Whitehall and in Portsdown hill I can pretty safely say the majority I worked with were pretty useless, paper shufflers that berated their management and sniped at service personnel.
They also treated the cleaning staff really badly.
Their shite didn’t stink.
No, there are around 190,000 service personnel so it’s more like one to three.
You didn’t read my post properly. It stated nearly one civil servant per soldier.
Do you work for MOD documentation proofing?
As a civil service I can safely say you’re chatting BS. Everything you say to describe civilians I have seen miltary personel do in equal capacity. However, I’ve also seen plenty of civilians, includ who work hours and hours for free sometimes to breaking point and who take absolute pride in their work and do all that they can to support the miltary.
Goodness gracious, that’s one civvy for every two serving personnel. The civvies nearly match the strength of the army now! We are short of trained military personnel in just about every branch of the services but it seems that, as the MOD ousts serving personnel, it fills the gap with… yet more civvies. I know that the civilian numbers include the MOD police, the RFA, etc. Maybe the Ascent people in UKMFTS, or are they contractors, rather than employees? Either way, we seem to have rather a lot of besuited accountants, IT people, PR minders, consultants and the like on… Read more »
So why would civil servants do that?
You don’t get sarcasm do you?
Quangos are a bigger problem, cost of funding regulators for privatised services must be way more than any savings the neo-liberals thought they would make. ABRO was far more productive than DSG Babcock, according to accounts it again did not generate meaningful profit and the buildings left to decay with minimal repairs.
It is the expected result in the present British political and social discriminatory culture = The systemic privilege of the bureaucrat.
So much for A.I making things more efficient