Service Complaints Ombudsman: Delays by MOD are simply not good enough
The Service Complaints Ombudsman has criticised the time it takes the Ministry of Defence to enact recommendations made by her office, saying delays are "simply not good enough".
At a hearing before MPs, Mariette Hughes highlighted the fact that recommendations that were made in 2016 had still not been actioned.
The office of the Service Complaints Ombudsman is an independent body that provides oversight on the handling of service complaints made by members of the Armed Forces.
Facing questions from MPs, including Intelligence Corps veteran Sarah Atherton, Ms Hughes conceded that the service complaints system in the Armed Forces is "not efficient, effective or fair, but is getting better".
She said: "We cannot let the focus slip off this now. It is within reach to make huge improvements to this system if we can maintain that drive on it."
Ms Hughes told MPs that her office had made 44 recommendations to the MOD to date, 40 of which have been acted upon.
But she said the time it took to carry out these recommendations had been "very disappointing".
One of the examples given was the recommendation by her office to add a page to internal web spaces such as Defence Net or Defence Gateway, where members of the Armed Forces can look up information about service complaints.
In response to a question by Ms Atherton on the subject of women complainants disproportionately outnumbering those made by others, Ms Hughes said resources were limiting the Ombudsman's ability to appoint female assisting officers to service personnel who have made such requests.
In 2021, a Defence Sub-Committee report on Women in the Armed Forces recommended that, in certain instances, complainants should be able to choose the gender of their assisting officer.
But according to Ms Atherton, who oversaw the report, this was not always happening.
Ms Hughes told the hearing: "Ideally, I would like somebody to be able to choose an assisting officer of their preferred gender.
"To an extent, you are limited by who is available and who is resourcing the system.
"But it is a real concern if the system does not have sufficient resources to be able to offer that to make someone feel more comfortable."
The committee also heard how the workload of the Ombudsman's office had increased by more than 50%, yet the budget set by the MOD had remained unchanged.
Ms Hughes said the current backlog of service complaints awaiting her team's attention sits at 18, with it taking approximately two-and-a-half months for cases to be opened once referrals are made.
Ms Hughes said: "Service complaints are going up. I want to see them go up further.
"Because the number of people who currently don't complain is still really worrying. I want the system to work and I want people to come forward."
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "The MOD has significantly increased the pace of change in the Service Complaints system and is committed to continuing this improvement going forwards.
"We will continue to work hard to close all open recommendations and will engage with the Ombudsman regarding our progress against this, whilst continuing to provide them with regular updates."
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