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The Ministry of Defence (MoD) paid out £1.7 million in bullying, harassment and discrimination claims last year, after a series of reports from female civil servants about unacceptable behaviour and cultural issues.
It comes after 60 female civil servants wrote to permanent secretary David Williams last November regarding a “hostile” and “toxic” culture within the department. They made allegations of sexual assault, harassment and abuse.
The letter contained anonymised testimonies from women who described being “propositioned”, “groped” and “touched repeatedly” by male colleagues.
The women said their “day-to-day professional lives are made difficult thanks to behaviours that would be considered toxic and inappropriate in public life, but that are tolerated at the MoD”.
In total, the MoD paid out £1.75m in settlements according to its annual report and accounts. It is a 30 per cent decrease from settlements paid out the previous year – £2.54m.
Earlier this year the department revealed there had been 93 formal complaints of bullying made by staff in 2023 – more than four times the number in 2019.
In response, the MoD has set up the “Reaffirming our Standards” programme to ensure “clear standards and expectations of behaviour” among its staff.
The report said: “Reaffirming our Standards aims to improve the lived experience of personnel across Defence, be they military or civilian, through setting clear standards and expectations of behaviour; through ensuring we uphold these standards; and through increasing people’s confidence in our systems and processes that we will act swiftly and decisively if things go wrong.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “The Reaffirming our Standards programme was initiated following a letter from a number of female civil servants about unacceptable behaviour and cultural issues.
“The Reaffirming our Standards programme is overseen by an external challenge panel of experienced subject matter experts.
“We know there is more work to be done and are committed to improving the experience for both military and civilian personnel in Defence.”
