Official Statistics

Civilian personnel biannual diversity dashboard report October 2024

Published 21 November 2024

Introduction

This statistical release presents figures on the current numbers and proportions for diversity characteristics of civilian personnel employed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The report covers civilian personnel within MOD Main Top Level Budgetary areas (TLB) and excludes personnel in organisations with delegated personnel functions: Executive Agencies, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and Locally engaged civilians.

This statistical release is produced as part of the transparency and accountability of the Ministry of Defence to Parliament and the public.The information has a wide range of users including the media, politicians, academic researchers and the general public who use the information to:

• understand the size and distribution of MOD Main civilian personnel by individual diversity categories

• assist in understanding the effect of changes in MOD policy, for instance changes to diversity analysis within recruiting

For further information on the MOD Diversity Dashboard Official Statistic please visit:

• MOD Diversity Dashboard Excel ODS table

• MOD Diversity Dashboard statistics

• MOD Biannual Civilian Personnel Background Quality Report

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Please contact us at Analysis-Civilian-Enquiries@mod.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Main Points and Trends

At 1 October 2024, the headcount of MOD Main civilian personnel was 37,182. Of these:

• 46.1% were female, a rise of 0.5 percentage points compared with 1 October 2023.
• 6.8% were ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities), a rise of 0.3 percentage points compared with 1 October 2023.
• 3.2% identified as being lesbian, gay & bisexual (LGB), a rise of 0.1 percentage points compared with 1 October 2023.
• 14.7% declared a disability, an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared with 1 October 2023.
• 10.5% were part time, consistent with the rate at 1 October 2023.
• 58.7% declared a religion or belief, a fall of 1.0 percentage points compared with 1 October 2023.
• The average age was 47.3 years, a reduction of 0.1 years compared with 1 October 2023.

Declaration rates for self-declared diversity fields have been decreasing over time (figure 1.1). Though reduced by 4.0 percentage points since 1 October 2022, at 1 October 2024 ethnicity had the highest declaration rate of all self-declared diversity fields at 80.8%. The declaration rates of sexual orientation and religion and belief were similar at 73.5% and 73.2%; a fall of 3.5 and 3.1 percentage points from 1 October 2022, respectively. Disability status has consistently had the lowest declaration rate, falling by 9.8 percentage points to 63.0% between 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024.

Figure 1.1 Declaration rates for ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion and belief and disability status, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

Declaration Rates are calculated for self-declared diversity fields including ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion and belief and disability status. Declaration rate is the number of personnel who make an ‘active declaration’ as a proportion of the total personnel. To ensure meaningful representation rates for a diversity field, a minimum 60% declaration level is required.

Representation Rates for self-declared diversity fields are calculated by the number of personnel who select a particular active diversity option as a proportion of the total personnel within ‘active declaration’. An active declaration excludes unknown and undeclared records, such as ‘prefer not to say’.

Age and grade

At 1 October 2024, the average age of MOD Main civilian personnel was 47.3 years with half (50.5%) of all personnel aged 50 and over, and over a third (33.4%) aged 50 to 59 years old (figure 2.1). Those aged 30 to 39 and 40 to 49 represented 18.2% and 20.4% of all civilian personnel respectively whilst those aged 16 to 29 years old represented the smallest proportion at 10.9%.

Between 1 October 2022 and 1 October 2024, the proportions of those aged 40 to 49 and 50 to 59 have reduced, whilst age bands 16 to 29 and 30 to 39 have increased. The average age of MOD Main civilian personnel has slightly decreased compared with 1 October 2022 (47.7 years).

Figure 2.1 – Age band distribution, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

At 1 October 2024, just over a third (34.5%) of all MOD Main civilians were in grade bands HEO to SEO, followed by 29.6% in grade bands AA to AO (figure 2.2). Executive Officers (EOs) represented 17.5% of all civilian personnel, 9.6% were in grade bands G7 to G6 and 1.0% were in SCS.

Since 1 October 2022, the proportions of grade bands have remained similar with a few small noticeable changes. The proportion of personnel in grade bands G7 to G6 and HEO to SEO have gradually increased, whilst the proportion of personnel within grade bands EO and AA to AO have slowly decreased. Industrial grades have reduced over time from 8.6% at 1 October 2022 to 7.5% at 1 October 2024.

Figure 2.2 – Grade band distribution, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

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

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

Figure 2.3 presents the age distribution within grade bands. At 1 October 2024, more than half of MOD Main civilians were aged less than 50 in grade bands EO (50.3%), HEO to SEO (55.9%) and G7 to G6 (55.9%). Conversely, over half of those in grade bands AA to AO (54.1%) and SCS (50.0%), were aged 50 and over. For those in industrial grades, nearly three quarters (75.4%) were aged 50 and over.

Figure 2.3 – Age band distribution by grade band, 1 October 2024

Sex

At 1 October 2024, 46.1% of MOD Main civilians were female (figure 3.1). Over time the proportion of females has slowly increased, with the gap between females and males gradually narrowing from 10.1 percentage points at 1 October 2022 to 7.8 percentage points at 1 October 2024.

Figure 3.1 – Percentage of MOD Main civilian personnel by sex, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

Figure 3.2 presents the percentage of females within each grade band. The proportion of industrial females has consistently the lowest proportion of all grade bands. At 1 October 2024 the proportion of females in industrial grades was 16.8%, though it had increased by 1.4 percentage points since 1 October 2022.

At 1 October 2024, for grade bands AA to AO through to G7 to G6, the proportion of females are within 3.7 percentage points of each other; EO with the highest proportion at 49.9%, followed by HEO to SEO (49.1%), AA to AO (48.0%) and G7 to G6 (46.8%). For all grade bands except AA to AO, the proportion of females has been slowly increasing, whilst for AO to AA there was a slight decrease over time. At SCS, females represent 40.9%, an increase of 1.1 percentage point since 1 October 2022.

Figure 3.2 – Percentage of females by grade band, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

Grade Charts

Charts by grade band for each diversity category have been compiled based on analysis within the grade band. For instance, for each grade band, the number of female personnel is divided by the total population, and multiplied by 100 to get the percentage of the distribution. This means that female and male proportions split by grade band will add up to 100%. The resulting chart will represent the proportion (%) of females within a grade. For self-declared diversity fields, the number will be divided by the total active declaration for that grade band, excluding unknown and undeclared personnel. Other grades have been excluded from the charts.

Further information may be found within the accompanying Excel ODS tables.

At 1 October 2024, there was a higher proportion of females than males in age bands 30 to 39 (51.6%) and 40 to 49 (52.8%). The age band with the lowest proportion of females was 60 and over with just over a third (33.8%). Between 1 October 2023 and 1 October 2024, the proportion of females have slowly increased, apart from age band 16 to 29; which have decreased slightly (figure 3.3).

Figure 3.3 – Percentage of females and males by age band, 1 October 2023 to 1 October 2024

Age Band Charts

Charts by age band for each diversity category have been compiled, based on analysis within the age band. For instance, for each age band, the number of female personnel is divided by the total population and multiplied by 100 to get the percentage of the distribution. This means that the female and male proportions split by age will add up to 100%. The resulting chart will represent the proportion (%) of males and females within an age band. For self-declared diversity fields, the number will be divided by the total active declaration for that age band, excluding unknown and undeclared personnel.

Ethnicity

Of those with a known ethnicity, the percentage of MOD Main civilian personnel who are from an ethnic minority background has slowly increased from 6.1% at 1 October 2022 to 6.8% at 1 October 2024 (figure 4.1). For a further breakdown of ethnic groups within ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities), please see Excel ODS tables 4.1 and 4.2.

Figure 4.1 – Percentage of MOD Main civilian personnel by ethnicity, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

At 1 October 2024, the grade bands with the highest representation rates of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) were G7 to G6 (8.2%) and HEO to SEO (7.9%) (figure 4.2). Grade bands EO and AA to AO both had representation rates of 6.3%, whilst SCS was 4.9%. Industrial grades had the lowest ethnic minority (excluding white minority) representation rate at 3.3%. Between 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024 the proportion of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) has been slightly increasing across all grade bands, excluding SCS.

For SCS, ethnic minority (excluding white minorities) representation rates have been decreasing since 1 April 2023 (figure 4.2). Please note, the time series for SCS must be interpreted with some caution as the comparatively smaller size of SCS personnel means rates are more likely to be volatile.

Figure 4.2 – Ethnic minority representation by grade band, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

At 1 October 2024, age band 16 to 29 had the highest ethnic minority (excluding white minority) representation rate at 9.8%, followed by 30 to 39 (8.9%) and 40 to 49 (8.6%) (figure 4.3). The representation rates of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) for age bands 50 to 59 and 60 and over were 4.9% and 5.2% respectively. Across all age bands, except for age band 30 to 39, the representation rate of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) has increased between 1 October 2023 and 1 October 2024.

Figure 4.3 – Ethnicity grouping by age band, 1 October 2023 to 1 October 2024

Sexual Orientation

Of those with a known sexual orientation, 3.2% of MOD Main civilian personnel identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual and other orientations (LGB). Between 1 October 2022 and 1 October 2024, the representation rates of LGB increased by 0.4 percentage points (figure 5.1).

Figure 5.1 – Percentage of MOD Main civilian personnel by sexual orientation, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual (LGB)

Refers to those who self-identify their sexual orientation as being other than heterosexual, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual and other orientations. Transgender people may or may not identify as with these orientations.

At 1 October 2024, the LGB representation rate for all non-industrial grade bands was between 2.9% and 3.7%, whilst industrial grades had the lowest LGB representation rate at 2.1% (figure 5.2). From 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024 most grade bands increased in LGB representation rates by 0.2 to 0.7 percentage points, but SCS showed a minor fall of 0.1 percentage points. Please note, the time series for LGB representation rates by grade must be interpreted with some caution as the comparatively smaller size of populations declaring an LGB sexual orientation means rates may be volatile.

Figure 5.2 – LGB representation by grade band, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

The sexual orientation declaration rate for civilian personnel aged 16 to 29 was below 60%, therefore representation rates have not been presented. Further information on sexual orientation and age can be found in the accompanying Excel ODS tables 5.5 and 5.6.

Religion and Belief

At 1 October 2024 the percentage of MOD Main civilian personnel reporting a religion or belief was 58.7%, whilst the percentage of personnel reporting no religion or belief was 39.4% (figure 6.1). The most commonly reported religion or belief was Christianity at 54.6%. From 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024, the proportion of those reporting a religion and belief were steadily falling, corresponding with an increase in reporting of no religion and belief. For further figures on the individual religion and beliefs recorded, please see Excel ODS, tables 6.1 and 6.2.

Figure 6.1 – Percentage of MOD Main civilian personnel by religion and belief, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

At 1 October 2024, MOD Main civilians in industrial grades presented the highest proportion of reporting religion and belief with 64.8% whilst HEO to SEO had the lowest proportion at 56.1% (figure 6.2). The proportions of personnel reporting a religion and belief in all grade bands except SCS decreased from 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024 whilst that for SCS slightly increased. Please note, the time series for SCS must be interpreted with caution as the comparatively smaller size of SCS personnel means rates may be volatile.

Figure 6.2 – Religion and belief representation by grade band, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

The proportion of civilian personnel reporting a religion and belief increases as age increased (figure 6.3). At 1 October 2024, for those aged 16 to 29 the proportion of personnel reporting a religion and belief was 30.7%, compared with 77.5% for those aged 60 and over. From 1 October 2023 to 1 October 2024, all age bands except 16 to 29 saw a decrease in the proportions of declared religion and belief. Please note, the time series for personnel aged 16 to 29 must be interpreted with caution as the related active declaration of this age band is below the 60% caution rate; this means rates for this age band are more likely to be volatile.

Figure 6.3 – Religion and belief by age band, 1 October 2023 to 1 October 2024

Disability

The proportion of MOD Main civilian personnel who declared themselves as disabled was 14.7% at 1 October 2024 (figure 7.1) and has been increasing since 1 October 2022.

The declaration rates of MOD Main civilian personnel recording an active disability status decreased by 9.8 percentage points to 63.0% (table 1, figure 1) from 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024. It is important that to ensure meaningful representation rates for a diversity field, high declaration rates are required. Therefore, representation rates for disability status should be interpreted with caution as disability status is unknown for 37.0% of personnel.

Figure 7.1 – Percentage of MOD Main civilian personnel by disability status, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

Table 1 – Declaration and representation of disability status of MOD Main civilian personnel, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

	1 October 22	1 April 23	1 October 23	1 April 24	1 October 24
Declaration Rate (%)	72.8	70.2	66.8	64.3	63.0
Unknown (%)	27.2	29.8	33.2	35.7	37.0
Disabled Representation Proportion (%)	11.6	11.9	13.8	14.3	14.7

Statistical Note

The methodology for reporting disability status has been updated following a data extract error from HR systems, which led to under-reporting personnel with a declared disability. This resulted in an increase in the disability representation rate at 1 October 2024 by ~2.9% compared to 1 April 2023.

For more information on disability status by grade band, and disability status by age band please see the accompanying Excel ODS tables (Section 7).

Working Pattern

The proportion of MOD Main civilian personnel working part time was 10.5% at 1 October 2024. Since 1 October 2022, part-time proportions have increased by 0.4 percentage points but have remained within 0.4 percentage points across the period (figure 8.1).

Figure 8.1 – Percentage of MOD Main civilian personnel by working pattern, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

Full-time employees are those working 37 hours a week, excluding breaks.

Part-time employees are those working fewer than 37 hours a week, excluding breaks.

At 1 October 2024, the two grade bands with the highest proportion of part-time personnel were AA to AO with 12.3% and G6 to G7 with 12.7%. SCS reported the lowest proportion of part-time personnel at 5.1% (figure 8.2). Between 1 October 2022 and 1 October 2024, part-time rates for all grade bands, except SCS, saw a slight increase whilst for SCS, the rate slightly fell. However, the time series for SCS must be interpreted with caution as the comparatively smaller size of SCS population means rates may be volatile.

Figure 8.2 – Part time representation by grade band, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

At 1 October 2024, only 2.6% of MOD Main personnel aged 16 to 29 were recorded as working part time, compared to 18.9% of those aged 60 and over (figure 8.3). The age band 50 to 59 had a proportion of part-time personnel at 8.1%, lower than age bands 30 to 39 (10.2%) and 40 to 49 (11.8%).

Figure 8.3 – Working pattern by age band, 1 October 2023 to 1 October 2024

Further Information

MOD Main Civilian Personnel: Includes staff in MOD Main Top Level Budgetary Areas (TLBs), the major organisational groupings of the MOD directly responsible for the planning, management and delivery of departmental capability. These are Navy Command, Army TLB, HQ Air Command, Head Office, UK Strategic Command, Defence Infrastructure Organisation and Defence Nuclear Organisation.

Declaration Rates

The declaration rates for the diversity fields of ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion and belief and disability status are calculated based on self-declaration. Each member of personnel can choose from the following options:

• One of the available diversity data fields (an active declaration)

• Prefer to self-describe (text field option to self-describe, an active declaration)

• Prefer not to say (no declaration)

• No response (no declaration)

Declaration Rate is the number of personnel who make an ‘active declaration’ as a proportion of the total personnel. To ensure meaningful representation rates for a diversity field, a minimum 60% declaration level is required. Prefer to self-describe is included within calculation for active declarations.

Representation Rates

Representation Rate is calculated from the number of personnel who select a particular active diversity option as a proportion of the total personnel within ‘active declaration’. An active declaration excludes unknown or undeclared records, such as ‘prefer not to say’. To ensure meaningful representation rates for a diversity field, a minimum 60% declaration level is required to allow calculation of representation rates.

For example, from 100 personnel, 80 personnel declare as either disabled or not disabled, and the remaining 20 select prefer not to say or no option selected; this produces a declaration rate of 80%. Of the 80 personnel who have actively declared their disability status, 8 declare as disabled, and 72 as not disabled; this produces a representation rate of 10% for disabled personnel. If representation was calculated across whole population including the 20 undeclared, representation rate would be calculated as 8% and understated.

Table 2 - Declaration rates, 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024

	1 October 22	1 April 23	1 October 23	1 April 24	1 October 24	pp change *	12 Month Change
Ethnicity	84.8	84.3	82.5	81.5	80.8	-4.0	-1.7
Sexual Orientation	77.0	76.5	75.3	74.2	73.5	-3.5	-1.8
Religion and Belief	76.3	76.2	74.7	73.8	73.2	-3.1	-1.5
Disability	72.8	70.2	66.8	64.3	63.0	-9.8	-3.8

In the period from 1 October 2022 to 1 October 2024 the proportion of active declarations fell (table 2). Personnel still retained the option to positively opt-out of providing details by selecting ‘Prefer not to say’.

^{* pp change for 2022 – 2024}

Rounding

Percentages and related change in percentage points across time periods are calculated from unrounded data and rounded to one decimal place.

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.

Protected Characteristics

All Protected Characteristics are analysed and reported on against the relevant minority grouping, defining minority on a numeric basis as the smaller or smallest of two or more groups forming a whole, rather than any broader cultural or sociological definition relating to characteristics of groups.

For reported Protected Characteristics, the following elements form the numeric minority:

Sex - Female

Ethnicity - Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities)

Sexual orientation - LGB

Religion and belief - Religion and belief declared

Disability status - Disabled

Work pattern - Part-Time

Further information relating to the Public Sector Equality Duty can be found at:

Public Sector Equality

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