Happiness in RAF at lowest recorded level as survey shows military morale tumble

Service life satisfaction among RAF personnel has dropped to its lowest level since attitudes were first surveyed in 2007.

Results from the UK Regular Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey 2023 show satisfaction with service life across the military has fallen for the second year in a row.

They also showed that attitudes towards financial-related aspects of service life have continued to decline, among the 9,176respondents.

• Military wife campaigner says service housing maintenance system 'is chaos'
• £500,000 funding announced to help veterans tackle cost of living crisis in Scotland
• £8m now available to fund homeless veterans with specialist care

In addition, levels of satisfaction with some aspects of Service Family Accommodation – including quality of maintenance/repair work – has fallen considerably since last year.

General service life

Satisfaction with service life across the services has fallen for two consecutive years, by 8 percentage points, from 50% to 42%, from 2021 to 2023.

It returns the figures to the level previously reported in 2018.

Satisfaction among RAF personnel has fallen to its lowest level since the question was first asked in 2007.

Army personnel are the most likely to be satisfied with service life (45%), with RAF satisfaction (37%) coming into line with figures for Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel (36% and 37%, respectively).

Officers also show a consistently higher satisfaction level with service life than other ranks.

Around a third of personnel feel valued by their service – 34% in 2023, down from 41% in 2021.

Money

Satisfaction with the rate of basic pay has fallen markedly in the last two years, returning to its lowest recorded level – 31%.

The same proportion of personnel agree that the pay and benefits they receive are fair for the work they do, down from 46% in 2021. 51% disagree.

Furthermore, satisfaction with allowances has fallen 18 percentage points since 2021, to 39%, back in line with 2012 levels.

These decreases may have been influenced by cost-of-living pressures and the rise in inflation.

Accommodation

Satisfaction with the overall standard of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) has fallen from 52% in 2022 to 46%.

Since last year, satisfaction with responses to requests for maintenance/repair work of SFA has fallen markedly – from 32% to 19%. The figure has fallen from 42% in 2015.

Similarly, satisfaction with the quality of maintenance/repair work of SFA has fallen by 8 percentage points to 19%, dropping from 37% in 2015.

Leadership and management of change

RAF personnel (17%) are the least positive about how well change is managed in their service – compared with Royal Navy (19%), Royal Marines (32%) and Army (27%).

Members of the RAF (18%) are the least likely to agree they have confidence in the leadership of their service, compared with Royal Marines (43%), Army (37%) and Royal Navy (28%).

Attitudes towards RAF senior leaders have fallen for the second year in a row, to their lowest-ever levels. The figures show that RAF personnel are the least positive about their senior leaders compared to the other services.

Only 15% agree that RAF senior leaders understand the impact of change on personnel, while just 25% agree they communicate decisions and a mere 26% agree that their senior leaders are keen to listen to service people's feedback.

RAF personnel (19%) are less satisfied with the fairness of the promotion system, compared to the other services – Royal Navy (35%), Royal Marines (34%) and Army (30%).

Fewer personnel are satisfied with their opportunities for further service compared to any previous year. The figure has dropped from 45% in 2022 to 42% this time around. RAF satisfaction levels in this area have reverted back to those reported in 2012.

The proportion of personnel planning to leave the services has increased for the second year in a row, returning to the 2020 level of 24%.

More personnel have actively searched for a job outside the services in the last 12 months, for the second year in a row – 15% in 2023, compared to 12% last year and 11% in 2021.

The impact of service life on family and personal life remains the top factor influencing intentions to leave.

Workplace culture

Around one in eight (13%) personnel report that they have been subjected to bullying, discrimination, or harassment in service environments in the last 12 months.

Separately, 12% of all female personnel report being subjected to sexual harassment in a service environment in the last 12 months, compared to less than 1% of male personnel. These levels are unchanged since the question was first asked in 2021.