Report criticises handling of armed forces complaints

The way complaints by men and women in the armed forces about bullying, harassment, and discrimination are handled is ineffective, unfair and unacceptable, a report says.

Dr Susan Atkins, the service complaints commissioner, castigates the way the system deals with cases concerning armed forces personnel. "After five years of operation, the service complaints system is still not working efficiently, effectively or fairly," she says in her annual report.

She adds: "It is neither swift, nor easy to use. The services too often focus on the process rather than justice, and have lost sight of the individual."

Launching the report in London, Atkins said: "I find that the armed forces have failed to give servicemen and servicewomen an efficient, effective and fair system through which they can raise a complaint."

It was not right, she said, that service personnel had to wait a year or longer to have their problems resolved. The system was too complex, too bureaucratic and should be simplified.

The failures undermined confidence in the chain of command and potential complainants kept quiet because they feared their careers would be adversely affected, Atkins said. The Defence Medical Service, and military lawyers and police should establish ways to protect whistleblowers.

It was "essential" to change the law and practice to require all sexual assaults, including exposure and voyeurism, and the use of social media, to be reported to the police and Service Prosecuting Authority, she said.

"Allegations involving acts of violence present specific problems. Under the Armed Forces Act 2006, sexual assaults short of rape or penetration do not have to be reported to the Service police and thus to the Service Prosecuting Authority", her report says.

It adds: "So any incident that can be seen as a joke (e.g. exposure to or indecent touching of female soldiers) or horseplay (e.g. threats involving vacuum cleaners or "posed" sexual assaults for Facebook – which are talked about as jokes) may not get picked up … Officers despair at what some of those under their command think is funny."

The report shows there is a steady increase in the number of cases of bullying and "improper behaviour" complained about.

In one of the few, and anonymous, cases mentioned in the report, a husband and wife in the same regiment, and with two young children, were told to deploy at the same time to Afghanistan. Senior army officers later apologised.

Atkins' post was set up following a report in 2006 by Nicholas Blake QC on the deaths of four recruits at the army's Deepcut barracks in Surrey. Blake found "clear evidence of foul abuse" and a failure to identify potential risks. He concluded that the four probably killed themselves, though none was "bullied to death".

Blake proposed the setting up of an independent armed forces ombudsman to deal with complaints. The proposal was rejected by military chiefs on the grounds that it would interfere with the chain of command. Instead, the post of commissioner, with weaker powers and less authority, was introduced.

Atkins repeated her calls, already made by the Commons defence committee, that her role should be strengthened and raised to the status of an ombudsman. That would allow the holder of the post to pursue and publicise individual cases much more effectively. An ombudsman would also be able to chase up the chain of command, though final decisions would remain in the hands of military commanders.

Complainants believed that delay by the chain of command was unfair to both those bringing complaints and those complained about, and failed to protect service personnel and undermined confidence in the chain of command, Atkins's report says.

Atkins said an ombudsman would preserve the primacy of the chain of command but more effectively hold the services to account for the just and fair treatment of service personnel as part of the armed forces covenant. "Our servicemen and servicewomen deserve nothing less", she said.

Atkins told the Guardian that service personnel often did not have the confidence to speak up and so the chain of command – senior officers – were not as aware of the problems as they should be.

She also warned of the mental health problems involved. "Personnel bullied or abused by people they trust makes it worse if they are let down. That can lead to mental health issues", she said.

The navy had the best record in dealing with complaints, but the position in the army and air force worsened last year, according to the report. Atkins received 572 "potential service complaints" in 2012, of which 13% were from women. That was a third more than in 2011. Complaints made directly to the military also increased.

There were 525 new complaints made in the army in 2012, a 7% increase over 2011. By the end of the year there were still 582 complaints awaiting decisions by commanding officers.

If the cases at army board level were decided at the 2012 rate, it would take three years to decide the backlog, says the report. At the end of 2012 the army had 430 cases that had been in the system for more than six months.

The numbers of service complaints made to the RAF chain of command doubled in 2012 and the numbers of complaints about bullying trebled. There was a significant reduction in numbers of formal and informal complaints about improper behaviour in the navy. But the navy had the highest number of anonymous reports of incidents of bullying, harassment and discrimination, according to the armed forces continuous attitude survey. The reasons for this disparity were not clear and should be investigated, says Atkins' report.

A growing theme among those who contacted the commissioner last year was a lack of confidence in the chain of command to resolve their complaint fairly and "a perception of closing of ranks".