National statistics

MOD biannual civilian personnel report - April 2022

Published 8 September 2022

This statistical release presents figures on the strengths, inflow and outflow of all civilian personnel employed by the Ministry of Defence.

For further information on the MOD Biannual Civilian Personnel Report please visit:

• MOD Biannual Civilian Personnel Report statistics .

• MOD Biannual Civilian Personnel Background Quality Report.

• MOD Biannual Civilian Personnel Notes and Glossary.

• MOD Biannual Civilian Personnel Excel ODS table.

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics (November 2013), in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

Definitions of terms used in this publication are present throughout the publication.

Review Note

Following a review of the supporting excel annexes found in the ODS file, it has been determined that Annexes 2A to 2D profiling intake and outflow data by Gender and Ethnicity diversity ranges are no longer relevant to this report. Therefore, it is proposed to cease inclusion of these annexes with effect from the April 2023 publication.

Main Points

MOD civilian personnel strength (FTE)

At April 2022, MOD civilian personnel strength (FTE) was 59,900. This is a decrease of 100 (0.2%) compared with 1 April 2021.

MOD civilian personnel inflow

For the 12 months to 31 March 2022, MOD civilian personnel inflow was 5,770. This is an increase of 380 (7.0%) compared with the previous 12 months.

MOD civilian personnel outflow

For the 12 months to 31 March 2022, MOD civilian personnel outflow was 5,900. This is an increase of 2,150 (57.1%) compared with the previous 12 months. This is mainly driven by a 68% increase in resignation and retirement across the organisation.

Civilian Personnel

FTE & Headcount (HC) Strengths

The MOD civilian personnel strength (FTE) at 1 April 2022 was 59,900, a decrease of 100 personnel (0.2%) compared with 1 April 2021 (Excel ODS Table 1).

The MOD civilian personnel strength (HC) at 1 April 2022 was 61,900, a decrease of 140 personnel (0.2%) compared with 1 April 2021 (Excel ODS Table 3).

Headcount (HC) A measure of the size of the workforce based on number of personnel employed rather than by their FTE proportion.

Strength Total number of personnel employed by the Department at a specific time period.

Full Time Equivalence (FTE) A figure that allows part-time workers’ hours to be put into the same units as full-time workers. This publication often uses the term jobs to mean full-time equivalent employment.

Figure 1: Breakdown of Civilian Personnel (FTE) by main groups, as at 1 April 2022

Figure 1 shows that Top Level Budgetary areas have by far the largest FTE share: 59.8%. Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s share is smallest 2.9%, with remaining FTE split between DE&S Trading Entity 17.3%, Trading Fund & Executive Agencies 13.6% & Locally Engaged Civilians 6.3%.

The table below shows the primary drivers by FTE for the rate of increase in personnel between 1 April 2021 and 1 April 2022.

Primary increase has occurred in Top Level Budgetary areas and Trading Fund & Executive Agencies, while remaining areas show minor increases or have remained stable.

Table 1: MOD Civilian Personnel by Main Groups (FTE)

	FTE as at 1 April 2021	FTE as at 1 April 2022	Difference	% Change
Top Level Budgetary areas	36,340	35,840	-510	-1.4%
DE&S Trading Entity	10,490	10,350	-140	-1.3%
Trading Fund & Executive Agencies	7,610	8,170	570	7.4%
Locally engaged civilians	3,710	3,780	70	1.8%
Royal Fleet Auxiliary	1,850	1,760	-80	-4.6%
Total	60,000	59,900	-100	-0.2%

Top Level Budgetary Area (TLB) The major organisational groupings of the MOD directly responsible for the planning, management and delivery of departmental capability.

DE&S Trading Entity Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) has been reported as a bespoke trading entity from 1 July 2015. Prior to this it was reported as a TLB.

Trading Funds Self accounting units that have greater freedom than other government departments in managing their own financial and management activities. From 1 July 2017 this total includes ‘Executive Agency’ data.

Locally Engaged Civilians LEC employees are recruited overseas exclusively for employment in support of the UK Armed Forces. LECs are also employed on terms and conditions analogous with local employment law and market forces, and not those of the UK.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary A civilian-manned fleet, owned by the MOD, which supports Royal Navy ships around the world, supplying warships with fuel, ammunition and supplies.

Figure 2: Civilian Level 0 personnel strength (Full Time Equivalent)

Figure 2 above demonstrates a gradual FTE strength rise through to October 2019 at 58,820, with slight drops to April 20 at 58,250, followed by more active increase to January 2022 at 60,460, dropping to 59,900 FTE personnel at April 2022. While there has been a consistent trend of increasing civilian strength total across the reported period as shown in figure 2, this trend has become more notable since April 2020 peaking at January 2022.

Civilian Level 0 Contains all those at Level 1 plus Trading Funds and Locally Engaged Civilians. This is used for external reporting, including National Statistics publications, Strategic Defence and Security Review Baseline, UKDS and Parliamentary Business.

Civilian Personnel by Grade

The proportion of civilian personnel in a Top Level Budgetary Area (TLB) who were classed as non-industrial personnel has slowly increased since 1 April 2016. The proportion has ranged from 84.9 % at 1 April 2016 to 91.1 % as at 1 April 2022.

Top Level Budgetary Area (TLB) The major organisational groupings of the MOD directly responsible for the planning, management and delivery of departmental capability.

Non- industrial Personnel Civilian personnel who undertake work such as administration, analysis, policy, procurement, finance, medical, dental, teaching, policing, science and engineering.

Figure 3: Proportion of civilian personnel by grade*, as at 1 April 2022

^{* Excludes unknown grades.}

Figure 3 shows the breakdown of FTE by pay band in April 2022 has SCS with the smallest proportion of 0.8%. Senior and Higher Executive Officers (Band C) now have the highest share of 32.4% followed closely by Administrative Officers and Assistants (Band E) at 31.8%. The remaining proportions were between Grade 7 & 6 (Band B) personnel 7.7%, Executive Officers (Band D) 18.2% and Industrial personnel 9.0%.

Inflow and Outflow

The annual inflow of civilian personnel in the 12 months to 31 March 2022 was 5,770, a 7.0 % increase (380 personnel) compared with the previous 12 months (Table 2). Primary increase in inflow levels occurred in Top Level Budgetary areas and Trading Fund & Executive Agencies, with inflow levels for DE&S Trading Entity (DE&S) falling.

Table 2: Inflow of Civilian personnel (headcount)

	12 months to 31 March 2021	12 months to 31 March 2022	Difference (number)	Difference (% change)
Top Level Budgetary areas (TLB)	3,910	3,520	-390	-10.1%
DE&S Trading Entity (DE&S)	880	1,080	200	23.3%
Trading Fund & Executive Agencies	610	1,170	570	93.2%
Total	5,400	5,770	380	7.0%

The annual outflow of civilian personnel in the 12 months to 31 March 2022 was 5,900, a 57.1 % increase (2,150 personnel) compared with the previous 12 months (Table 3). This is mainly driven by a 68% increase in resignation and retirement across the organisation. In the 12 months to 31 March 2021, resignation and retirement accounted for 2,401 of all outflow, however, for the 12 months to 31 March 2022, resignation and retirement account for 4,043 of all outflow.

Inflow The number of personnel joining the Department within a monthly, quarterly or financial year period.

Outflow The number of personnel leaving the Department within a monthly, quarterly or financial year period.

Table 3: Outflow of Civilian Personnel (headcount)

	12 months to 31 March 2021	12 months to 31 March 2022	Difference (number)	Difference (% change)
Top Level Budgetary areas (TLB)	2,740	4,200	1,460	53.4%
DE&S Trading Entity (DE&S)	560	980	420	74.9%
Trading Fund & Executive Agencies	460	730	260	57.1%
Total	3,760	5,900	2,140	57.1%

Figure 4: MOD Main TLB outflow by reason, 12 months ending 31 March 2022

For Figure 4 Retirement and Resignation rates were highest in April 2022 at 31.7% and 37.4% respectively.

Figure 5: Inflow and outflow of MOD Main civilian personnel (Headcount)

For figure 5, the overall trend in the net flow of MOD Main civilian personnel through to September 20 is generally negative, with a trend of positive net flows from December 20. For the 12 months to 31 March 2022, the outflow was minus 4,200, whereas the intake was positive 3,520. This resulted in a net flow of minus 680.

Grade structures

Since 1 April 1996 all departments and agencies have had delegated responsibility for the pay and grading of their employees, except for those in the Senior Civil Service (SCS). The MOD grades are shown here against levels broadly equivalent (in terms of pay and job weight) to the former service-wide grades.

As of February 2022 following the implementation of the MYHR personnel system MOD Main elements of the department are again reporting Civil Service wide grade structure.

Former MOD grades	Civil service-wide grades
SCS – Senior Civil Service	SCS – Senior Civil Service
B1 & equivalents	Grade 6
B2 & equivalents	Grade 7
C1 & equivalents	SEO – Senior Executive Officer
C2 & equivalents	HEO – Higher Executive Officer
D & equivalents	EO – Executive Officer
E1 & equivalents	AO – Administrative Officer
E2 & equivalents	AA – Administrative Assistant

Rounding

Tables and Charts within this document

Where rounding has been used, totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sums of their rounded parts. This also applies to Civilian personnel data expressed in terms of Full-Time Equivalents (FTE).

When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in “5” have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.

Excel tables accompanying this publication

An updated MOD Disclosure Control and Rounding policy has been published on GOV.UK and we have applied this policy to the statistics on Civilian personnel in the accompanying Excel tables. The policy is available here.

Disclosure control will still be applied to statistical or numeric information to safeguard the confidentiality of individuals. ‘Disclosure control’ refers to the efforts made to reduce the risk of disclosure, such as applying statistical methods to protect ‘personally identifiable information’ (PII) in aggregate data tables. These safeguards can take many forms (e.g. data suppression, rounding, recoding etc.).

Revisions

Occasionally errors can occur in statistical processes; procedures are constantly reviewed to minimise this risk. Should a significant error be found the publication on the website will be updated and an errata slip published documenting the revision.

Responsible statistician: Analysis Civilian Head of Branch
Further information/mailing list: Analysis-Civilian-Enquiries@mod.gov.uk Background quality report: Background quality report

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As at April 2022, the email address to contact the Analysis Civilian Branch has changed to Analysis-Civilian-Enquiries@mod.gov.uk.