Armed Forces complaints system remains 'not efficient, effective or fair' for seventh year, ombudsman says

The Service Complaints system continues to operate in a way that is not efficient, effective or fair – the seventh year in a row that this assessment has been reached –  says the 2022 Annual Report to Parliament by Mariette Hughes, the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces (SCOAF).

However, Ms Hughes, whose job it is to hold the process to account, told Forces News that it is getting better, with this "the most significant improvement we've seen year on year".

Her report found that progress is being made, particularly in response to the House of Commons Defence Committee (HCDC) Report on Women in the Armed Forces, with these positive changes starting to reach the complaints system.

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Ms Hughes said female personnel are still "over-represented within the Service Complaints system" and are also "disproportionately over-represented within bullying, harassment and discrimination complaints".

Serving female personnel make up 21% of complaints but only 12% of the Armed Forces.

The key issues which continue to affect the operation of the service complaints system include the effect of changes to the appeals system, a lack of flexibility in dealing with the nuances of individual service complaints, the system not dealing with complaints at the lowest level and the persistent view that the system will disadvantage or discriminate against service personnel who raise complaints.  

Although there have been improvements to the efficiency of the system, with the Armed Forces closing 66% of Service Complaints on time on average (the target is for complaints to be resolved within 24 weeks), this is its best performance to date.

Ms Hughes said one of the things she was most pleased about during the last year is that the system "managed to close more cases than it accepted, despite seeing a 25% increase in the number of complaints".

"So improvements have been made on the time taken and the system is operating better to keep up with those incoming complaints," she added.

The Ombudsman has made five new recommendations to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) that will deliver lasting improvements to the system.

These include working with the MOD and single services to professionalise the system, improving awareness of the system and increasing SCOAF's ability to assess the performance of the system.