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RAF took steps to ‘artificially inflate’ diversity numbers to hit target, defence sources suggest | UK News


The Royal Air Force has taken steps to “artificially increase” its diversity in an attempt to target a key government target of female and minority recruits, three sources said. defense has claimed and leaked documents have suggested.

The RAF denies it has acted illegally in any way with its recruitment practices.

James Heappey, Secretary of the Armed Forces, said any evidence of active discrimination would be investigated and would not be tolerated.

“We’ve asked the Armed Forces to improve their diversity, but we won’t accept courses starting from anything other than full and we won’t accept any downgrading. standards and we will not accept any operational impact,” he said.

“But we are pleased with the chief of staff of the Air Force and his team looking at what they can lawfully do in terms of positive action, provided the conditions are met that the secretary of state and I have agreed to.” fabricate.”

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Armed Forces Minister reacts to leaked papers

The sources said that recruitment officers were directed to prioritize the placement of women and ethnic minorities in training courses in the year to 31 March 2021.

One of the sources alleges this included bringing in dozens of female and ethnic minority candidates early and paying them earlier than their white male counterparts.

This was “to artificially inflate the numbers” for that hiring year, the source said. “This is clearly positive discrimination.”

Active discrimination – advertising someone based solely on a specific, protected characteristic – is illegal under equality law. This is different from positive action, which allows employers to take certain steps to improve diversity in the workplace.

Defense Secretary James Heappey MP
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Defense Secretary James Heappey MP

The RAF announced they had achieved the targets set by the government by March 2021

Sky News revealed this week that The head of RAF recruitment has resigned to protest what defense sources describe as an “impossible” diversity target this year.

The sources said that the RAF’s recruitment force of about 450 people has been under pressure for longer, especially during the construction period to March 2021.

At that time, another head of recruitment was brought in.

The Air Force, led by Air Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, is working towards targets set by the government of increasing female recruits by 20 per cent and ethnic minorities by 10 per cent by 2020. .

On March 24, 2021, to much fanfare, the RAF announced this had happened.

“Royal Air Force recruitment and selection – in collaboration with key stakeholders – has worked incredibly hard to make the RAF a more diverse organization that better reflects the society it serves” , it said in a statement.

“Through targeted interventions, within the legal framework of positive action, across the space of attraction, recruitment and selection, a wide range of stakeholders has been engaged, including BAME. [black, Asian and minority ethnic] and gender networks, to identify barriers to BAME and female recruitment. “

Air Force Sheriff Sir Mike Wigston talks to Sky's Deborah Haynes
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Air Force Chief of Police Sir Mike Wigston

Levels achieved have been ‘faked’, source claims

But the breakdown of recruitment data backing the hit claim has not been released.

In contrast, the Department of Defense’s six-monthly/yearly public diversity statistics says – by contrast – the immigration rate for women is 18.3%, instead of 20%.

The RAF said the difference was because its data excluded women from re-engaging in the service.

In addition, the levels that have been achieved have been “spoofed”, a source said.

A leaked internal email seen by Sky News has revealed that the RAF has chosen to drop the so-called selection or matching interview for all applicants between December 1, 2020 and December 31. March 2021 in what was described by a senior officer as a “test”.

The interview is a way for the RAF recruitment department to screen applicants and push through only those deemed more likely to succeed for the rest of the selection process. The rest of the process includes things like aptitude tests, health and fitness tests.

A second source said the elimination of the interview for everyone means a larger pool of women and minority applicants is created to be included in the training courses.

“This is not well received by the entire recruiting force as it removes the ability to filter out people who are not suitable for training in that case,” the source said.

“It was contested at all levels, but we were told to start and execute it.”

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RAF: Jobs ‘pause for whites’

‘No consideration was given to their performance’

However, the RAF said the “pause” of these interviews was to see if the selection process could be sped up to achieve overall recruitment goals at a time when the country is facing a crisis. significant disruption because of the COVID pandemic or not.

It said it was not a move specifically made in relation to the achievement of that year’s women or ethnic minority targets.

However, a third source asserted: “Pressure and direction from senior leadership is that all female and ethnic minority candidates must be prioritized for processing applications.

“Without any consideration for their performance, as long as they have met the minimum standard, they are given priority to move forward, which basically means that the white men are left in the this process or be given a date for the next test after they are given peer preference.

“This is considered a positive and non-discriminatory action by the management team on the basis that they do not deny unprivileged candidates the ability to move through the system or deny them opportunities to work based on special characteristics. their protected points.”

A separate document provides evidence in favor of female and ethnic minority recruitment.

An article: “The Recruiting Force continues to prioritize female candidates from VA [Virtual Armed Forces Careers Office] for CRM [customer relationship management]. “

Another document states that the progress of minority candidates is similarly tracked, adding: “The Recruiting Force continues to prioritize BAME candidates from VA for CRM, while Rec Ops [recruitment operations] prioritize uploading it to BRTC [basic training course]”.

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All female RAF flypast at Wembley

Former RAF fighter pilot is considering legal action

Also, Tim Davies, a former RAF fighter pilot, has released a leaked recruitment force email on his YouTube channel, which seems similar to confirm that the service at least are also willing to help push women and minority candidates through the selection process more quickly.

“AFCOs [Armed Forces Careers Offices] is to remove the preset pilot, RPAS [drone operators]WSO [weapons system operators] and Int [intelligence] candidate from CBAT [aptitude test] events in the dates mentioned above unless BAME and female”, reads email. October 26, 2020 to November 23, 2020.

Mr Davies said he was considering legal action against the RAF under the equality law.

He told Sky News in an interview: “This is active discrimination against someone because of a constant trait, which we know in this case is their skin color and gender. theirs are white men..

However, an RAF spokesman said that the service was aware of the email at the time and “their senior leadership took immediate action to address this misdirection”.

Read more:
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UK’s ability to train fast jet pilots in crisis as threats grow from Russia and China, leaked documents show
RAF ‘pauses job offers for white males’ to meet ‘impossible’ diversity targets

“Since October 2020, the RAF has held immediate training for Area Commanders and RAF personnel at the Armed Forces Care Offices to ensure recruitment activities,” the spokesperson said. and recruitment in accordance with the law”.

On the alleged inclusion of female and minority applicants in training courses before the end of March 2021 to achieve diversity goals, the RAF said those brought forward were told they would need have to wait a longer time. time at training college, RAF Halton, and was willing to do so.

However, defense sources say the move means RAF recruiters begin the next 12-month period with a shortage of female and minority applicants in their plans and targets. new diversity has to be met, the sources said.

Another document supported this claim.

Speaking of female targets, it says: “Supply is still depleted of female Cs (candidates) after preloading these Cs in Q4 of TY 20/21 [January-March 2021]. “

In response to the overall allegations, the RAF defended its recruitment action, saying that the Recruitment and Selection executive team understands the difference between active action and active discrimination.

“Operational efficiency is paramount, and no one lowers the bar to join the Royal Air Force for protection,” a spokesperson said.

“The Royal Air Force has a reputation for operational excellence, drawing on the qualities of all of our people. We will always seek to recruit the best talent available to us.”



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