MOD headcount – clarification

 

                 The 84,000 MOD personnel are all civilians – in charge of desks and related duties.  These are in addition to the 180,000 or so uniformed personnel in the army, navy and air force.

13 Comments

  1. Mike Stallard
    March 3, 2011

    Is this being reported fairly then?
    The myth is that half the private soldiers at the front in Afghanistan are about to be summarily dismissed.

  2. lola
    March 3, 2011

    In the words of the mighty Marvin “I think you ought to know that I’m feeling very depressed”.

  3. HJBbradders
    March 3, 2011

    How on Earth does the MOD justify having 84,000 armchair warriors?

  4. Tony Steel
    March 3, 2011

    Are you certain that they are all in charge of desks? I think some are in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and travel around in ships replenishing Royal Navy warships; MOD Police, Guard Service etc who patrol MOD establishments and military bases, investigate crimes etc; and various other organisations which do not have the suggested desk-based existence.

  5. Martyn
    March 3, 2011

    I was a RAF desk officer in the MoD way back in Maggie’s time and working with the MoD Procurement Executive (PE). A government edict was issued that there was to be an across the board 10% reduction in the PE staff to be completed within the next 12 months.
    Smoke and mirrors blossomed; many took early retirement clutching gratuities and starting their pension, only to reappear the following week as ‘consultants’. Then new departments or branches sprang into existence as being ‘essential new requirement’ and staff were moved into them, showing a reduction in the department they had just left. The end result was that no one was quite certain by what percentage had the the PE downsized and soon things went on as they were before the edict.
    I had several run-ins with the PE over the years and could, but must not (signed the secrets act) recount tales of their activities that many would find, as did I at the time, a shocking waste of time and money with little regard to the real world of military operations.
    It is here that significant cuts could and should be made….

  6. alan jutson
    March 3, 2011

    Seems like a lot of backroom staff to run the Armed Services.

    Ratio of almost 50%

    Do you know what they all do ?.

    I assume some of the service personel also work in admin.

    I wonder what the total wage bill is for the 180,000 service personel, compared to the total wage bill for the 84,000 civilians, anyone know ?

  7. alexmews
    March 3, 2011

    and, as predicted, from an earlier post of Mr Redwood’s we see what Mr Huhne’s new FTEs are up to over at the Dept for Energy & Climate Change.

    PR.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/03/chris-huhne-oil-prices-green-economy

  8. Peter Gerard
    March 3, 2011

    It should be borne in mind that a significant number of civil servants in the MoD don’t drive desks. These include firefighters, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and police officers. We should not dismiss such operational civil servants.

  9. Brian Tomkinson
    March 3, 2011

    Sir Humphrey would be proud: 1 administrator for every 2 uniformed personnel!

  10. Iain Gill
    March 4, 2011

    Stick close to your desks and never go to sea,
    And you all may be rulers of the Queen’s Navee!

  11. Lindsay McDougall
    March 4, 2011

    Can we not get that 84,000 down to 40,000 – say 5,000 on payroll and HR, 5,000 on property and asset values, 30,000 on procurement?

  12. Neil Craig
    March 4, 2011

    I wonder what proportion of that 180,000 actually do combat. My guess would be under 50%, perhaps quite a lot under.

  13. Bazman
    March 4, 2011

    When are the armed forces due to be privatised? Bonuses for winning etc. How are these Brass hats incentivised at the moment?

Comments are closed.