Lack of trust weakens military complaint system, says report

A deficiency of spot successful the equipped forces' complaints strategy is undermining efforts to tackle the issue, the ombudsman for the services has said.

Mariette Hughes said the complaints strategy was "not efficient, effectual oregon fair" - the seventh twelvemonth successful a enactment it has been criticised.

The main grievances raised were astir vocation management, bullying oregon discrimination.

The Ministry of Defence acknowledged "there is inactive much enactment to beryllium done".

In its yearly study for 2022, the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces said determination is simply a "persistent presumption that the strategy volition disadvantage oregon discriminate" against unit who taxable complaints.

Ms Hughes, who was appointed to the relation successful January 2021, told the BBC it was important to instrumentality into relationship "people's situations and emotions" erstwhile tackling complaints.

"The biggest overarching contented is inactive that sometimes wrong the work complaints process we hide that determination are radical involved," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"We request to beryllium capable to amusement greater flexibility, instrumentality relationship of people's situations and emotions, and conscionable recognise that astatine the extremity of the time these are radical who person complaints that request resolving."

The ombudsman provides "independent and impartial oversight" of the work complaints process.

Ms Hughes said it was "distressing" that complaints relating to bullying, harassment and favoritism "take acold longer than different complaints to resolve".

"Those are the ones wherever there's a batch of emotion involved, and they tin truly bent implicit individuals," she said.

A full of 12% of work unit said they experienced bullying, harassment oregon discrimination, though conscionable 7% of those raised a written complaint, down from 11% successful 2021.

More than fractional - 56% - of those who experienced bullying, harassment oregon favoritism said they did not taxable complaints due to the fact that "they did not judge thing would beryllium done astir it", portion 51% felt that "complaining would adversely impact their career".

While the study noted an wide summation successful assurance successful the complaints system, it said wide spot levels were "worryingly low".

"It's truly hard to recognize the standard and breadth of the occupation until radical person much assurance successful coming forward," Ms Hughes said.

"If we can't spot the issues, we can't hole the issues."

Other issues highlighted successful the study included the effect of changes to the appeals system, arsenic good arsenic the strategy not dealing with complaints astatine the lowest level.

However, the study besides acknowledged improvements made to the complaints strategy successful 2022, notably that the independency of the process has improved present that those making complaints nary longer person to taxable them done their concatenation of bid but to a specialised team.

Efficiency besides improved, with 66% of complaints being dealt with wrong the targeted time-frame of 24 weeks, up from 47% successful 2021. However, this fig fell abbreviated of the 90% target.

The study recovered that 935 complaints were "ruled admissible", of which 43% were upheld either partially oregon afloat successful favour of the complainant.

Women successful the equipped forces proceed to beryllium overrepresented successful the complaints process, making up 21% of complaints, contempt comprising lone 12% of equipped unit members.

The study made 5 recommendations for improvements, including reviewing case-handling processes and processing a dedicated country connected their intranet to supply accusation astir however radical tin taxable complaints.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said that "bullying, harassment and discrimination" are not tolerated successful the equipped forces, and that it was "committed to providing a fair, businesslike and effective" complaints system.

"We admit that determination is inactive much enactment to beryllium done and are moving hard to present it," the spokesperson said.