RAF officers on around £60,000 manning the gates at Cranwell due to guard shortage

Highly skilled Royal Air Force officers - part of the UK's warfighting airpower - have been told to man gates at a key air base because of a lack of guards, Sky News has learnt.

The move has left many flight lieutenants at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire feeling "undervalued and disenfranchised", an RAF source said.

They are also questioning whether the priority of air chiefs really is to ensure the service is ready to deter and respond to an increasingly aggressive Russia - or instead to manage budget constraints and staff shortages, according to the source.

A second source confirmed this view. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.

"This is just another of the 'death by a thousand cuts' and is one of the reasons I will be leaving the service," the first source told Sky News.

"Many colleagues of my cadre have left recently and, as the stats will show, we are not being replaced."

John Healey, the defence secretary, revealed last week that the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force collectively have been losing 300 personnel more each month over the past year than have been joining - a sorry indictment for defence at a time of mounting threats.

The job of standing guard at the entrances to RAF Cranwell - which houses the RAF's world-class officer training college and is known as the "spiritual home of the RAF" - is typically carried out by members of the Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS) or very junior servicemen and women.

A part of defence, the MPGS employs regular service personnel - including those who have left the military but choose to rejoin - on a special contract and a salary of just under £26,000 per year. Unlike ordinary soldiers, sailors and aviators, MPGS guards can choose where they wish to be posted.

The first source said that there had been a shortage of guards willing to work in Lincolnshire, meaning that commanders had ordered flight lieutenants - who can earn up to £59,500 - to fill the gap.

This requires them to stand guard for up to 12 hours through the day or overnight. The source said the order went out in October and a number of flight lieutenants have started guard duty.

'Checking IDs and raising a barrier'

"Notwithstanding our personal views, it surely does not represent value to the taxpayer to have an officer who earns upwards of £60,000 per year… to be stood checking IDs and raising a barrier, a job akin to a minimum-wage security guard," the source said.

In addition, the source said it was not a great advertisement for the RAF given that applicants dreaming of a career flying around the world will pass through the gates at Cranwell for selection courses.

"So, all potential officers and aircrew looking to join the RAF will come on to the base to attend their selection and see an RAF flight lieutenant on the gate checking IDs and think: 'What am I signing up for here? I want to be an officer not a security guard'," the RAF source said.

The second RAF source said they were aware of senior non-commissioned officers, up to the rank of warrant officer, also manning the gates at RAF Cranwell instead of focusing on their day job.

"It should be staffed by Military Provost Guard Service - but they can't due to retention issues and 'long term sickness'," the second source said.

The source also claimed there was a lack of focus from RAF leadership about the need to prioritise warfighting across the service.

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"We hear more from retired senior leaders, about ongoing issues, than we do our current ones," the source said.

"The 'distance' between the senior leaders and the squadrons and departments is getting larger and larger, to the point I generally do not feel anyone, any station or any contract is on the same hymn sheet and knows our 'war-fighting' goals and aims. Ultimately leading to a breakdown of cohesion and morale across the service."

The first source agreed that there seemed to be a failure by leaders to focus the minds of everyone across the service on the pivotal need to be ready to warfight.

"In terms of everything that is going on with Russia and Ukraine, it does not feel like that is the priority in the RAF. It seems a bit rudderless."

RAF response

A spokesperson for the RAF said: "Every member of the RAF has an operational mindset and understands that control of entry to our units is key to ensuring that we protect our people, infrastructure and assets from potential threats so we are always ready to fly and fight.

"When this vital role cannot be undertaken by the Military Provost Guard Service it is sometimes necessary to draw on our highly capable personnel to undertake this task. Personnel of all ranks are trained to undertake Force Protection duties when required as part of our operational resilience.

"Individual units will determine how best to use their workforce to maintain security however, we will not offer comment on details."

(c) Sky News 2024: RAF officers on around £60,000 manning the gates at Cranwell due to guard shortage