Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the level in civilian personnel (a) resignations, (b) retirements and (c) transfers in the 12 months ending 30 September 2022 compared with the previous 12 months.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) continuously monitors the movement of its Civil Servants and continually seeks to ensure the optimal force design (utilising civilians, Regular Armed Forces, and Reserves appropriately) to meet Defence outputs. Workforce planning is guided by the principle of the right person, with the right skills, in the right role and biannual Strategic Workforce Plans are used to determine future inflow and outflow projections. Evaluation of the availability of required skills has provided an enhanced understanding of workforce skill gaps, allowing appropriate interventions to be identified. These plans are formally submitted twice a year and work is ongoing to analyse, interpret and understand their aggregate impact at Departmental level.

MOD’s monthly attrition rates combined with exit survey analysis enable us to understand how and why Civil Servants leave Defence. The latest data illustrates that there have been changes in inflow and outflow over the last year:

MOD civilian personnel strength

At October 2022, MOD civilian personnel strength was 59,950. This is a decrease of 460 (0.8%) compared with 1 October 2021

MOD civilian personnel inflow

For the 12 months to 30 September 2022, MOD civilian personnel inflow was 5,980. This is a decrease of 180 (2.9%) compared with the previous 12 months

MOD civilian personnel outflow

For the 12 months to 30 September 2022, MOD civilian personnel outflow was 6,600. This is an increase of 1,980 (42.8%) compared with the previous 12 months. This is mainly driven by a 48.6% increase in resignation and retirement across the organisation. At 1 April 2022, resignation and retirement across the organisation accounted for a 68% increase across the organisation over the previous 12 months.