A new specialist tri-service team will handle the Armed Forces’ most serious complaints of bullying, discrimination and harassment, ‘independent’ of the chain of command of the army, air force or navy, the Ministry of Defence has announced.

The “fundamental” changes to the Armed Forces complaints processes will eradicate unacceptable behaviours in the military, and improve support for women in defence. They come after the suicide of Royal Artillery gunner Jaysley Beck in 2021, who was sexually assaulted and harassed in the months before her death.

Last month, the head of the British Army, General Sir Roly Walker, condemned the “appalling and shameful behaviour” of officers after more than 1,000 women shared stories of abuse and sexual harassment.

The new team will provide individuals with greater confidence and help ensure that the most serious complaints are dealt with quickly, fairly and in a standardised way across the Armed Forces, and builds on the tri-service approach to sexual offending within the Defence Serious Crime Command, which was set up in 2022.

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Alistair Carns, minister for veterans and people, said: “I am personally committed to ensuring that we do everything within our power to root out unacceptable behaviour and ensure that the Armed Forces is a place where everyone can thrive.

“Women in the armed forces play a vital role in keeping our nation safe. This is not just a matter of basic justice and equality, it is essential to military effectiveness.

“Our people have spoken, and we have listened. We are moving at pace to create a new tri-service complaints team to take the most serious complaints out of the chain of single service command for the first time and to launch a central taskforce to give this issue the attention and focus it deserves.”

‘Cautious optimism’

Campaigners welcomed the news of the specialist tri-service complaints team with “cautious optimism”.

Emma Norton, founder and lead lawyer for the Centre for Military Justice, said that “something seems to have shifted”  from the Army’s stubborn position last month, during Beck’s inquest, that there would be no substantial changes to the system for handling serious complaints of sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination.

“Clearly, we need a lot more detail,” she said. “How far removed from the single services will the new complaints processes really be? Will the same complaints staff just be reassigned to handle them? What new training will they have? Will they be willing to use genuinely independent expert advisers when they need to? Would it not just be more sensible for the new Armed Forces Commissioner to perform this function? That would lend even greater independence to the scheme.

“The fact that this option has not been taken up is a considerable concern and one wonders what internal pressures have been brought to bear on ministers that such an obvious solution has not been taken up.”

Leighann McCready, Beck’s mother, said: “While we welcome this progress, we know there is still more to be done. The details of how this will work in practice are critical. It’s not just about removing cases from the chain of command and single services, it’s about ensuring that those handling them are truly independent, properly trained, and committed to real accountability. Trust in the system is already low, and without genuine transparency and oversight, nothing will change.

“Our daughter, Jaysley, suffered relentless sexual harassment while serving in the army. If a system like this had existed, if she had somewhere truly independent to turn to, maybe she would still be here. We can never know for sure, but what we do know is that no other family should have to suffer this kind of loss.

“If today’s changes prevent just one more tragedy, then we are moving in the right direction. But we will continue to push for a system that fully protects those who serve and ensures that no one is left feeling unheard, unsupported, or alone.”

Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce

The MoD will also set up a Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Taskforce, led centrally by Carns to “cohere and drive the work to change culture from the heart of the department”.

He will be supported by a network of regional champions who will help raise awareness of and tackle violence against women and girls across the military, and a “Defence Voices Panel”, a group comprising service personnel and civil servants to provide honest feedback and lived experiences.

Carns will set out these new measures before the House of Commons Defence Select Committee later today when he gives evidence alongside Armed Forces chiefs.

The VAWG Taskforce will be trained on topics including domestic violence and sexual offending and will use a network of multidisciplinary experts to support Armed Forces personnel, including healthcare providers, social workers, and HR advisers.

The government introduced the Armed Forces Commissioner Bill in November to create the first-ever independent champion for serving personnel and their families. The Bill is currently at Committee Stage in the House of Lords.

The commissioner, expected to be appointed by the end of the year, will be a direct point of contact for serving personnel and their families to raise issues which impact life in the Armed Forces. They will have powers to visit defence sites unannounced and commission reports, holding services to account and driving improvements to service life.

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