Levels of morale in the Armed Forces fall for the third year in a row, new MOD survey finds
Nearly six out of 10 forces personnel have described their service morale as 'low', according to the latest Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey (AFCAS).
The MOD's results show the number reporting low morale has increased for the third year in a row, and is now running at 58% (5,406), up from 42% in 2021.
Overall satisfaction with pension benefits has also dropped and attitudes to the rate of basic pay remain at their lowest reported levels of 32% (2,982).
However, following a large decrease in 2023, satisfaction with responses to requests for, and quality of maintenance/repair work of service family accommodation (SFA) has improved slightly, back in line with 2022 levels.
The AFCAS is composed of 9,320 responses from trained UK Regular Armed Forces personnel across each service and rank group within each service.
General service life
The data shows, officers consistently rate their satisfaction with service life higher than other ranks – which this year was at 47% (4,380) for officers, compared to other ranks at 38% (3,542).
Army personnel are the most satisfied with service life (44% or 4,101), followed by RAF (37% or 3,448), then Royal Marines and Royal Navy personnel (33% and 32% or 3,075 or 2,982, respectively).
Satisfaction with service life amongst Royal Navy personnel has fallen four percentage points since 2023 to its lowest ever level.
Levels of satisfaction among the other services remain relatively stable since last year, but are considerably below the recent peaks reported in 2021.
In 2024, 58% (5,406) of personnel rated their service morale as low, which is similar to the level reported in 2019, but more positive than the level reported in 2018.
The changes in low service morale in recent years are evident across all the services, with just one in ten (10% or 932) of personnel rating their service morale as high.
Money
Satisfaction with the rate of basic pay has fallen markedly in the last three years, remaining at its lowest recorded level at 32% (2,982).
Just over three in 10 (31% or 2,889) personnel agree that the pay and benefits they receive are fair for the work they do, while just over half disagree.
In addition, overall satisfaction with pension benefits has fallen for a second year in a row, down five percentage points since 2022, to 38% (3,542).
RAF personnel are the most satisfied with their pension benefits, at 47% (4,380), which compares to the Royal Navy at 39% (3,635) and Army at 36% (3,355), while the Royal Marines are the least satisfied with their pension benefits at just 28% (2,610).
Accommodation
Following large decreases in 2023, satisfaction with some aspects of service family accommodation (SFA) has shown signs of improvement, with levels now back in line with 2022.
Satisfaction with responses to requests for maintenance/repair work is now at 28% (2,610), and the quality of maintenance/repair work at 27% (2,516) – both of which fell to 19% (1,771) last year.
Since 2022 satisfaction with the overall standard of SFA has remained unchanged at 48% (4,474), which is also below the peak level reported in 2014 (60% or 5,592).
Satisfaction with the standard of service from catering contractors at units remains at its lowest reported level this year, at 25% (2,330).
This figure is unchanged since 2022, below the peak level reported in 2015 (33% or 3,076) when this question was first asked.
Army personnel are the most satisfied (29% or 2,703) compared to the other services (between 18% and 21% – 1,678 or 1,957).
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