Armed Forces Commissioner Bill 2024-2025

The Armed Forces Commissioner Bill 2024-25 was introduced in the House of Commons on 6 November 2024.

The bill would establish an independent Armed Forces Commissioner and provide the Commissioner with powers to investigate general service welfare matters in the armed forces. The bill would abolish the office of the Service Complaints Ombudsman and transfer its functions and responsibilities to the newly established Commissioner.

The government has published an explanatory note (PDF) alongside the bill.

Second reading is scheduled for Monday 18 November 2024.

Why has the bill been introduced?

The Labour Party pledged in its 2024 general election manifesto to establish an independent Armed Forces Commissioner to “improve service life”.

Introducing the legislation in the 2024 King’s Speech, the government cited “record lows” in morale and a “crisis in recruitment and retention” as driving the need for a “strong, independent voice” to represent the needs of service personnel and their families.

Over the last decade there have been calls by some, predominantly by the Scottish National Party (SNP), for the government to establish a representative body for the armed forces, to act as a voice for personnel on issues such as pay.

The previous Conservative governments resisted such calls, highlighting the chain of command, the three service families’ federations  (the Army Families Federation, the RAF Families Federation and the Naval Families Federation), and the Armed Forces Pay Review Body as methods by which personnel could raise concerns. The federations and selected other charities can raise concerns through their contributions to the government’s annual reports on the armed forces covenant, as well as directly with the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

The Labour Party, when in opposition, was critical of the level of the government’s support for service personnel and their families. John Healey, when Shadow Defence Secretary, spoke of morale having “fallen to record lows”, with families living in “damp housing” and using food banks “to get by”. His predecessor, Nia Griffith, also spoke about low morale and its impact on retention.

Annual surveys of service personnel show high levels of dissatisfaction with service life. Nearly six in ten (58%) of personnel said their service morale was low in the armed forces continuous attitude survey 2024, and only four in ten (40%) said they were satisfied with service life in general.

There is an existing process through which personnel can make a complaint about a matter related to service life. This is the service complaints system and is overseen by the independent Service Complaints Ombudsman. However, the Ombudsman’s powers are restricted to existing complaints and the present Ombudsman has called for greater powers of investigation. Families of personnel are currently unable to submit a complaint to the Ombudsman.

Prior to the July 2024 general election, Mr Healey indicated the Labour Party would legislate for an independent Armed Forces Commissioner:

They [the Commissioner] will be a voice for armed forces personnel and the families who support them, and will report to Parliament, not Ministers. In that way, we can reinforce the accountability of our military to this House and the public, as well as making it more responsive to those who serve.

The German Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces provided inspiration for the bill, according to the government’s background notes for the 2024 King’s Speech. The Commissioner reports annually to the German Bundestag (federal parliament) on the state of the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces.

What would the bill do?

The government set out plans to legislate for an Armed Forces Commissioner in the King’s Speech 2024. The accompanying background notes said the Commissioner would:

• be a new, direct and independent contact point for serving personnel and their families, outside their chain of command, to raise issues which impact service life.
• strengthen parliamentary oversight of issues facing our Armed Forces personnel, and report directly on an annual basis to ensure proper accountability.
• be fully empowered to investigate and highlight issues, with access to information and MoD sites as appropriate.

Amending the Armed Forces Act 2006

The bill would amend the Armed Forces Act 2006 by inserting new sections setting out the functions and responsibilities of the Armed Forces Commissioner and transfer the existing functions and powers of the Service Complaints Ombudsman to the new Commissioner.

The bill would also make a technical amendment to the service complaints system, which is set out in the Armed Forces Act 2006 (as amended).

Regulations will be set out in secondary legislation which would be subject to the affirmative procedure in Parliament. This means the regulations will require the approval of both Houses of Parliament before coming into effect.

The bill extends to the whole of the United Kingdom, and personnel would be able to raise a general service welfare matter wherever in the world that welfare matter may have taken place.