Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against his Department by (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010 in each of the last five years.

The below tables show the number of Employment Tribunal claims recorded under the categories of (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010 for each financial year from 2020-21 to 2025-26.

It is important to note that some cases are recorded with one claim category, such as unfair dismissal, while others are recorded with multiple claim categories, such as constructive dismissal and failure to make reasonable adjustments which is why claims under the Equality Act 2010 have increased.

Figures fewer than 3 have been replaced with [c] to limit inadvertent disclosure of personal data.

Defence must be an environment in which everyone feels supported, valued, and confident to give their best, regardless of their backgrounds. There are a number of live intiiatives in the Department I am overseeing, designed to encourage individuals to feel safe and able to raise concerns about inappropriate behaviour and result in 100% action where it is proven, demonstrating Defence takes such concerns seriously.

In addition to the MOD Raising our Standards programme, a civilian HR Casework Improvements Project is reviewing the end-to-end delivery of HR casework. It launched a new universal casework model in February 2025 which overhauled HR systems, policies and procedures to ensure they are more supportive and fair, independent and transparent, with efficiencies reducing timescales; all ultimately improving the employee experience. Further more, in response to feedback on our current Raising a Concern (Whistleblowing) Policy and Procedure, Defence has committed to a comprehensive, ministerial-led review of Whistleblowing in Defence. The final report and recommendations from this Review are to be published and laid before Parliament in April 2026.