Official Statistics

MOD civilian personnel sickness absence report: 1 July 2021

Published 1 July 2021

© Crown copyright 2021

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-civilian-sickness-absence-financial-year-2021/mod-civilian-personnel-sickness-absence-report-1-july-2021

This report presents figures on Sickness Absence for civilian personnel employed by the Ministry of Defence, excluding Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel and Locally engaged civilians. Using data from the Ministry of Defence Human Resource and Management System (HRMS), the tables present information about changes in the Average Number of Working Days Lost (AWDL), actual number of days lost, the number of instances of Sickness Absence and the distribution by ICD code.

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as Official Statistics, 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.

Main Points

MOD average working days absent per civilian personnel

In the 12 months to 31 March 2021 the number of average working days lost is 5.94. This is a decrease of 0.90 days compared with the previous 12 month period.

MOD civilian number of incidents of sickness absence

In the 12 months to 31 March 2021, the number of incidents of sickness absence was 32,537. This is a decrease of 31,993 (49.5%) compared with the previous 12 month period.

MOD civilian personnel working days lost due to sickness

In the 12 months to 31 March 2021, the number of days lost to sickness absence 316,045. This is a decrease of 41,982 (11.7%) compared with the previous 12 month period.

MOD civilian personnel main causes of sickness absence

In the 12 months to 31 March 2021, the main causes of sickness absence have been

Non-industrial personnel

  • Mental and behavioural disorders (29%)
  • Diseases of the musculoskeletal system (14%)
  • COVID-19 (13%)

Industrial personnel

  • Diseases of the musculoskeletal system (19%)
  • Mental and behavioural disorders (16%)
  • COVID-19 (10%)

All tables and charts below are for 12 months ending at the reference point.

Absence days are Full Time Equivalent (FTE) working days lost. for example, a part time employee (working 50% of full time hours) is sick for 7 calendar days, consequently this is 5 working days and then 2.5 FTE working days.

Figures exclude personnel classed as being on zero pay for any reason.

No sickness absence information is available for Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) or Locally Employed Civilians (LEC) so they are excluded.

Trading Fund personnel cannot be broken down by Industrial status.

The table below shows the average working days absent per person by TLB for MOD civilian personnel and the value of lost productivity for the MOD.

Summary Table: Average working days absent per person by TLB for MOD civilian personnel

31-Mar-2020 31-Jun-2020 31-Sep-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Mar-2021 Value of lost productivity of absence from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021
Top Level Budgetary areas (TLBs) 7.58 7.59 7.15 7.17 6.52 £ 33,882,000
Joint Forces Command 6.35 6.69 6.28 5.97 5.39 £ 6,683,000
Defence Infrastructure Organisation 7.6 8.47 8.34 8.92 8.35 £ 5,748,000
Head Office & Corporate Services 7.65 7.85 7.68 8.05 7.36 £ 8,652,000
Air Command 8.24 7.15 6.63 6.71 6.09 £ 3,587,000
Land Forces 8.35 8 7.23 6.75 6.02 £ 6,909,000
Navy Command 6.59 6.8 6.19 6.44 5.83 £ 2,303,000
Unallocated 7.53 3.32 2.7 2.38 0.46 £ 0
DE&S Trading Entity 5.66 5.59 5.22 5.19 4.81 *
Trading Fund & Executive Agency 4.69 5.25 5.23 5.09 4.63 *
UK Hydrographic Office 6.82 7.62 7.02 6.84 4.88 *
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory 4.31 5.04 5.38 5.41 5.11 *
Defence Nuclear Organisation 4.62 4.67 4.08 3.59 3.44 *
Level 0 Total 6.84 6.9 6.52 6.51 5.94 *

Chart A: Average working days absent per person MOD civilian personnel

All areas are showing a steady decrease in the AWDL per individual, with level 0 showing a drop of 0.9 days since March 2020. The Trading Funds and Executive Agencies have been plateauing but have in the last month shown a slight fall in AWDL.

Chart B: Value of lost productivity in £M of TLB’s civilian personnel sickness absence.

Head Office and Corporate Services accounted for 25% of the loss of productivity within the Core TLB’s at £8.7M. Of the three service arms TLB’s Land Forces at £6.9M is larger than the combined total of Air Command and Navy Command.

Table 1: Average working days absent per person by TLB for MOD civilian personnel

31-Mar-2020 31-Jun-2020 31-Sep-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Mar-2021
Top Level Budgetary areas (TLBs) 7.58 7.59 7.15 7.17 6.52
           
Non Industrial Total 7.41 7.4 7.04 7.11 6.45
Joint Forces Command 6.3 6.68 6.26 5.94 5.32
Defence Infrastructure Organisation 7.68 8.48 8.34 8.93 8.37
Head Office & Corporate Services 7.7 7.93 7.76 8.11 7.37
Air Command 7.53 6.77 6.47 6.71 5.88
Land Forces 7.72 7.2 6.56 6.23 5.69
Navy Command 6.29 6.84 6.28 6.43 5.62
Unallocated 7.53 3.39 2.74 2.38 0.48
           
Industrial Total 9.68 9.14 8.16 7.72 7.22
Joint Forces Command 7.77 7.05 6.88 7.12 7.91
Defence Infrastructure Organisation 4.85 8.21 8.5 8.45 7.39
Head Office & Corporate Services 5.79 5.03 4.93 5.8 7.27
Air Command 10.87 8.53 7.23 6.71 6.87
Land Forces 10.28 10.6 9.56 8.74 7.33
Navy Command 8.39 6.6 5.67 6.44 7.14
Unallocated          
           
DE&S Trading Entity 5.66 5.59 5.22 5.19 4.81
           
Trading Fund & Executive Agency 4.69 5.25 5.23 5.09 4.63
UK Hydrographic Office 6.82 7.62 7.02 6.84 4.88
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory 4.31 5.04 5.38 5.41 5.11
Defence Nuclear Organisation 4.62 4.67 4.08 3.59 3.44
           
Level 0 Total 6.84 6.9 6.52 6.51 5.94

Table 2: Number of incidents of sickness absence by TLB for MoD civilian personnel

31-Mar-2020 31-Jun-2020 31-Sep-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Mar-2021
Top Level Budgetary areas (TLBs) 43,523 36,154 31,985 26,029 20,891
           
Non Industrial Total 38,966 32,796 29,170 23,839 19,250
Joint Forces Command 7,923 7,244 6,483 5,248 4,263
Defence Infrastructure Organisation 6,001 5,050 4,745 4,327 4,029
Head Office & Corporate Services 9,652 8,736 7,796 6,356 5,087
Air Command 4,059 3,051 2,642 2,020 1,484
Land Forces 8,668 6,562 5,628 4,440 3,339
Navy Command 2,654 2,149 1,872 1,444 1,046
Unallocated 9 4 4 4 2
           
Industrial Total 4,557 3,358 2,815 2,190 1,641
Joint Forces Command 256 139 119 97 73
Defence Infrastructure Organisation 112 117 108 97 94
Head Office & Corporate Services 230 212 190 159 176
Air Command 1,025 831 699 590 448
Land Forces 2,550 1,720 1,395 1,006 687
Navy Command 384 339 304 241 163
Unallocated - - - - -
           
DE&S Trading Entity 12,553 9,947 8,955 7,341 5,995
           
Trading Fund & Executive Agency 8,454 8,257 7,673 6,294 5,651
UK Hydrographic Office 5,246 5,456 5,229 4,491 3,948
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory 1,583 1,364 1,192 819 854
Defence Nuclear Organisation 1,625 1,437 1,252 984 849
           
Level 0 Total 64,530 54,358 48,613 39,664 32,537

Table 3: Number of working days lost due to sickness absence by TLB for MOD civilian personnel

31-Mar-2020 31-Jun-2020 31-Sep-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Mar-2021
Top Level Budgetary areas (TLBs) 269,141 269,799 254,553 255,663 233,849
           
Non Industrial Total 229,493 233,738 223,619 227,482 208,072
Joint Forces Command 40,072 43,305 41,320 39,976 36,498
Defence Infrastructure Organisation 34,497 39,027 39,259 43,094 41,280
Head Office & Corporate Services 62,557 64,113 62,244 64,514 58,517
Air Command 24,929 22,404 21,452 22,323 19,700
Land Forces 53,183 49,397 45,062 42,917 39,279
Navy Command 14,227 15,476 14,268 14,647 12,796
Unallocated 28 15 14 12 2
           
Industrial Total 39,648 36,061 30,934 28,180 25,777
Joint Forces Command 1,626 1,469 1,414 1,447 1,600
Defence Infrastructure Organisation 588 1,012 1,052 1,041 901
Head Office & Corporate Services 1,363 1,177 1,149 1,341 1,670
Air Command 9,858 7,699 6,473 5,972 6,121
Land Forces 23,007 22,188 18,699 15,940 12,779
Navy Command 3,207 2,515 2,148 2,439 2,706
Unallocated - - - - -
           
DE&S Trading Entity 58,072 57,883 54,220 53,896 49,852
           
Trading Fund & Executive Agency 30,814 35,357 35,756 35,217 32,345
UK Hydrographic Office 17,804 21,320 23,000 23,210 21,873
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory 5,409 6,027 5,540 5,396 3,868
Defence Nuclear Organisation 7,601 8,011 7,216 6,611 6,604
           
Level 0 Total 358,027 363,039 344,529 344,776 316,045

Table 4A: Number of working days lost due to sickness absence by ICD code for Non-Industrial civilian personnel excluding Trading Funds and Executive Agencies.

31-Mar-2020 31-Jun-2020 31-Sep-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Mar-2021
All ICD 10 Codes ICD Descriptions 229,493 233,738 223,619 227,482 208,072
ACI Injury, Poisoning and Certain Other Consequences of External Causes 16,701 15,844 16,341 16,413 14,491
BFO Diseases of the Blood Forming Organs and Certain Disorders 2,030 2,258 2,324 2,425 2,122
CIR Diseases of the Circulatory System 9,978 10,783 11,652 12,055 9,935
COV COVID-19 - - 12,638 20,388 27,530
DDS Diseases of the Digestive System 14,150 11,134 9,803 8,618 7,178
DEM Diseases of the Ear and Mastoid Process 1,637 1,823 1,615 1,502 1,429
DEY Diseases of the Eye and Adnexa 2,232 2,668 2,577 2,666 2,367
DGY Diseases of the Genito-Urinary System 9,682 8,319 7,549 7,702 6,349
DRS Diseases of the Respiratory System 27,876 21,892 20,314 14,396 6,694
EMN Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases 2,265 1,683 1,690 1,646 1,290
IPO Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases 19,199 17,533 16,177 12,839 8,884
MSD Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue 39,485 37,741 33,623 33,994 30,892
NGB Neoplasms 9,754 11,416 10,712 10,431 9,827
NSS Diseases of the nervous system 7,897 7,801 6,859 6,515 6,485
OPP Factors Influencing Health Status and Contact with Health Service - - - - -
PCP Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Peurperium 2,648 2,460 2,374 2,354 2,195
PSD Mental and Behavioural Disorder 57,488 62,202 59,415 64,894 62,060
SCO Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue 1,943 1,450 1,203 1,095 1,038
SID Cause of Absence Not Yet Known 4,526 16,732 6,753 7,549 7,304

Chart 4B: Number of working days lost due to sickness absence by ICD code for Non-Industrial civilian personnel, 12 months ending 31 March 2021

Mental and Behavioural disorders, which includes stress remains high in the Non-Industrial population increased to 29% from 23% in 2020. The impact of Covid 19 during this reporting period now accounts for 13% of the number of days absence.

Table 5A: Number of working days lost due to sickness absence by ICD code for Industrial civilian personnel excluding Trading Funds and Executive Agencies.

31-Mar-2020 31-Jun-2020 31-Sep-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Mar-2021
All ICD 10 Codes ICD Descriptions 39,649 36,061 30,934 28,180 25,777
ACI Injury, Poisoning and Certain Other Consequences of External Causes 4,647 4,052 3,462 3,170 2,915
BFO Diseases of the Blood Forming Organs and Certain Disorders 323 316 170 167 242
CIR Diseases of the Circulatory System 2,127 3,599 3,061 2,062 1,764
COV COVID-19 - - 1,054 1,910 2,815
DDS Diseases of the Digestive System 2,668 1,570 1,381 1,158 888
DEM Diseases of the Ear and Mastoid Process 369 160 148 221 219
DEY Diseases of the Eye and Adnexa 442 569 592 572 565
DGY Diseases of the Genito-Urinary System 1,691 798 692 795 1,061
DRS Diseases of the Respiratory System 3,764 2,862 2,485 1,704 865
EMN Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases 139 83 92 135 102
IPO Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases 2,810 2,116 1,802 1,678 1,301
MSD Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue 9,858 7,665 6,280 6,018 4,916
NGB Neoplasms 1,359 1,905 1,512 1,755 2,188
NSS Diseases of the nervous system 753 636 496 624 426
OPP Factors Influencing Health Status and Contact with Health Service - - - - -
PCP Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Peurperium 175 259 289 260 176
PSD Mental and Behavioural Disorder 7,149 6,248 5,331 4,358 4,185
SCO Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue 454 356 249 163 153
SID Cause of Absence Not Yet Known 922 2,866 1,838 1,430 996

Chart 5B: Number of working days lost due to sickness absence by ICD code for Industrial civilian personnel, 12 months ending 31 March 2021

Instances of diseases of musculoskeletal and connective tissue still accounts as the main reason for absence among Industrial grades and with injury and consequences of external causes accounts for 30% of the total number of days lost.

Table 6A: Number of working days lost due to sickness absence by ICD code for Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) civilian personnel.

31-Mar-2020 31-Jun-2020 31-Sep-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Mar-2021
All ICD 10 Codes ICD Descriptions 58,072 57,883 54,220 53,896 49,852
ACI Injury, Poisoning and Certain Other Consequences of External Causes 2,720 2,684 2,758 2,662 2,017
BFO Diseases of the Blood Forming Organs and Certain Disorders 442 192 181 339 380
CIR Diseases of the Circulatory System 1,813 2,689 2,397 2,323 2,085
COV COVID-19 - - 3,429 4,912 6,634
DDS Diseases of the Digestive System 4,116 3,567 3,041 2,651 1,902
DEM Diseases of the Ear and Mastoid Process 756 420 370 371 394
DEY Diseases of the Eye and Adnexa 968 918 862 705 487
DGY Diseases of the Genito-Urinary System 2,354 1,820 1,883 1,916 1,579
DRS Diseases of the Respiratory System 9,591 7,136 6,523 4,491 2,219
EMN Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases 600 354 509 521 441
IPO Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases 6,234 5,507 4,803 4,131 3,053
MSD Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue 7,637 6,727 5,426 5,104 4,565
NGB Neoplasms 2,723 2,111 2,291 2,718 2,826
NSS Diseases of the nervous system 2,643 3,231 2,746 2,563 2,851
OPP Factors Influencing Health Status and Contact with Health Service - - - - -
PCP Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Peurperium 951 1,001 908 1,062 1,166
PSD Mental and Behavioural Disorder 13,572 14,543 14,372 15,491 15,246
SCO Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue 296 194 154 143 183
SID Cause of Absence Not Yet Known 656 4,790 1,567 1,793 1,825

Chart 6B: Number of working days lost due to sickness absence by ICD code for DE&S civilian personnel, 12 months ending 31 March 2021

Within Defence Equipment and Support Mental and Behavioural disorders has over the past year increased as a proportion of the total number of days lost and now accounts for 30%. Covid 19 is second to this as a cause of absence with 13%.

Table 7A: Number of working days lost due to sickness absence by ICD code for Trading Fund and Executive Agency civilian personnel

31-Mar-2020 31-Jun-2020 31-Sep-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Mar-2021
All ICD 10 Codes ICD Descriptions 30,814 35,358 35,757 35,218 32,345
ACI Injury, Poisoning and Certain Other Consequences of External Causes 868 925 894 789 709
BFO Diseases of the Blood Forming Organs and Certain Disorders 164 165 121 105 243
CIR Diseases of the Circulatory System 399 485 440 373 267
COV COVID-19 - - 254 574 1,066
DDS Diseases of the Digestive System 1,906 1,719 1,626 1,343 1,276
DEM Diseases of the Ear and Mastoid Process 163 231 204 218 241
DEY Diseases of the Eye and Adnexa 295 209 200 325 388
DGY Diseases of the Genito-Urinary System 866 1,145 1,112 781 680
DRS Diseases of the Respiratory System 5,834 5,289 4,997 3,491 1,649
EMN Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases 217 78 77 31 36
IPO Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases 4,177 3,959 3,592 2,550 1,689
MSD Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue 2,614 2,300 2,536 2,981 3,017
NGB Neoplasms 1,097 1,052 913 991 876
NSS Diseases of the nervous system 1,624 1,788 2,410 3,642 4,315
OPP Factors Influencing Health Status and Contact with Health Service 2,289 3,123 3,093 3,492 2,256
PCP Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Peurperium 182 327 420 472 676
PSD Mental and Behavioural Disorder 6,890 8,390 8,555 7,984 7,232
SCO Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue 93 72 83 65 84
SID Cause of Absence Not Yet Known 1,136 4,103 4,230 5,013 5,646

Chart 7B: Number of working days lost due to sickness absence by ICD code for Trading Fund and Executive Agency civilian personnel, 12 months ending 31 March 2021

This chart must be treated with caution as Trading Funds and Executive Agencies have a high instance where cause of absence is not yet known of 17% compared to other TLB’s. Mental and Behavioural disorders account for 22% with Covid-19 accounting for 3.3%

Chart C: Percentage of working days lost due to sickness absence by top five ICD codes for Non-Industrial civilian personnel compared against Industrial, DE&S and Trading Fund personnel,

12 months ending 31 March 2021

This chart shows the five highest causes of sickness absence by ICD codes across all areas though the proportion is in some cases very different. Covid 19 has now become the third highest reason for the number of days of sickness absence.

Symbols and Conventions

  • (~) fewer than five

  • (*) Not applicable
  • (..) Not available
  • (-) Zero or rounded to zero
  • (e) Estimate
  • (p) Provisional

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 at: MOD statistics: policies.

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 (for example, 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.

Glossary

Working Days Lost:

Average working days lost are the number of FTE days lost to sickness absence by civilian personnel within a 12 month rolling period.

Civilian Level 0:

Includes:

  • Top Level Budgetary areas (TLBs)
  • Defence, Equipment & Support (DE&S) Trading Entity
  • Trading Fund & Executive Agencies

Excludes:

  • Royal Fleet Auxiliary
  • Locally Engaged Civilians

Army TLB: (previously reported as Land Forces)

Performs a similar role to Navy Command within the context of trained Army formations and equipment.

Defence Equipment & Support:

Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) equips and supports the UK’s Armed Forces for current and future operations. It acquires and supports through-life, including disposal, equipment and services ranging from ships, aircraft, vehicles and weapons, to electronic systems and information services. DE&S satisfies on-going requirements including food, clothing, medical supplies, maintenance and temporary accommodation, as well as operating HM Naval Bases and the joint supply chain for land, sea and air.

Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO):

Established on 01 April 2011 replaced Defence Estates and includes TLB property and facilities management functions previously situated within other TLBs.

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory:

Is an Executive Agency. It supplies impartial scientific and technical research and advice to the MOD and other government departments.

Defence Statistics:

On 1 April 2013 the Directorate formerly known as DASA split into two onestar analytical business areas within the Head Office Strategy Directorate - Defence Economics and Defence Statistics. These two business areas continue to provide National Statistics on Defence and other corporate information, forecasting, planning, consultancy, analytical research and advice to the MOD.

Defence Nuclear Organisation:

Is the sponsor for the SDA as an Executive Agency. It became an Executive Agency on a phased approach after splitting out from DE&S. It was reported as a full Executive agency on April 2018.

Full Time Equivalence (FTE):

Is a measure of the size of the workforce that takes account of the fact that some people work part-time. Prior to 1 April 1995 part-time employees were assumed to work 50 per cent of normal hours, but since then actual hours worked has been the preferred methodology. The average hours worked by part-time personnel is about 68 per cent of full-time hours.

Head Office & Corporate Services (HO&CS):

Was established in April 2012. Lead areas of activity include Senior Finance Office (SFO) responsibility for ensuring that decisions are taken with due regard to affordability and value for money, acting as Head of Establishment for London HO Buildings and associated support requirements, Production of the Department’s Resource Accounts and Governance support for MOD Trading Funds.

HQ Air Command:

Air Command incorporates the RAF’s Personnel and Training Command and Strike Command with a single fully integrated Headquarters, which equips the RAF to provide a coherent and coordinated single Air focus to the other Services, MOD Head Office, the Permanent Joint Headquarters and the rest of MOD.

Hydrographic Office:

The UK Hydrographic Office is responsible for surveying the seas around the UK and other areas to aid navigation.

ICD International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Health–related Problems.

ICD Is a coding system for diseases and signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or diseases, as classified by the World Health Organisation.

Industrial:

Industrial personnel are civilian personnel employed primarily in a trade, craft or other manual labour occupation. This covers a wide range of work such as industrial technicians, air freight handlers, storekeepers, vergers and drivers.

Joint Forces Command (JFC):

See: UKStratCom.

Locally engaged civilians:

MOD employs a number of civilian personnel overseas, known as Locally engaged civilians (LECs). The definition of a Locally engaged civilian is an employee who has been recruited locally as a ‘servant of the Crown’. In other words, they have not been recruited through fair and open competition in the UK under the Civil Service Order in Council and they are not therefore members of the Home Civil Service or the Diplomatic Service. LECs are also employed on terms and conditions analogous with local employment law and market forces, and not those of the UK.

Ministry of Defence (MOD):

This United Kingdom Government department is responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. The principal objective of the MOD is to protect the United Kingdom and its values and interests abroad. The MOD manages day to day running of the Armed Forces, contingency planning and defence procurement.

Is the TLB for the Naval Service. As at 1 April 2010 Fleet TLB was renamed to Navy Command. Fleet TLB was formed on 1 April 2006 by the merger of the Commander-in-Chief Fleet and the Chief of Naval Personnel/ Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command.

Non-industrial:

Civilian personnel who are not primarily employed in a trade, craft or other manual labour occupation. This covers a wide range of personnel undertaking work such as administration, analysis, policy, procurement, finance, medical, dental, teaching, policing, science & engineering.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary:

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary is a civilian-manned fleet, owned by the MOD, which supports Royal Navy ships around the world, supplying warships with fuel, ammunition and supplies. The RFA fleet is fully integrated into the RN’s command and control system and forms a vital part of maritime operations.

Strength:

The total number of personnel employed by the Department at or within a specific time period.

Top Level Budgetary Area (TLB):

The major organisational groupings of the MOD directly responsible for the planning, management and delivery of departmental capability.

Trading Funds:

Trading Funds were introduced by the Government under the Trading Funds Act 1973 as a ‘means of financing trading operations of a government department which, hitherto, have been carried out on Vote’. They are self-accounting units that have greater freedom than other government departments in managing their own financial and management activities. They are also free to negotiate their own terms and conditions with their personnel and for this reason their grading structures do not always match that of the rest of the Ministry.

UKStratCom (formerly Joint Forces Command (JFC)):

Was established at 1 April 2012 to ensure that a range of military support functions covering medical services, training and education, intelligence and cyber are organised in an efficient and effective manner to support success on operations, supporting investment in joint capabilities, strengthening the links between operational theatres and top level decision making. Joint Forces Command achieved Full Operational Capacity as at 1 April 2013, absorbing additional support roles from lead service TLBs. As of October 2019 JFC changed their official title to UKStratcom.

Working Days:

This follows Cabinet Office definition, setting a maximum number of sickness absence days at 225 days per person and excludes data for weekends, annual leave and bank holidays.

Responsible statistician: Civilian Personnel Head of Branch
Telephone: 020 7218 4535
Further information/mailing list: DefStrat-Stat-CivEnquiries@mod.gov.uk Background quality report: Background quality report

Would you like to be added to our contact list, so that we can inform you about updates to these statistics and consult you if we are thinking of making changes? You can subscribe to updates by emailing:
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