Responding to shortfalls in staffing

4.4  When seeking to recruit and retain personnel, the Department must comply with wider public sector pay constraints. Defence organisations can pay allowances if they cannot recruit to particular posts, but the burden of proof is high and the need regularly reassessed. DE&S and the SDA are both able to set pay strategies independent of the civil service. However, this does not mean that they can compete with the private sector or are immune to wider departmental cost constraints.

4.5  The Department will continue to rely on contractors for the foreseeable future, and it will always require the use of external contractors to some degree, for example for specialist skillsets for which it would not be cost-effective to maintain permanent in-house capacity. To reduce costs, it is establishing relationships with private sector partners. For example:

•  in August 2020, it let a four-year contract for commercial resources across a range of activities, including procurement and contract management, at a cost of up to £216 million; and

•  Defence Digital is producing a business case for a Digital and IT Professional Services Framework to develop long-term relationships with firms able to supply suitable staff.