A Royal Air Force recruitment drive to boost diversity discriminated against white men, an inquiry has found.
In 2020 and 2021, 161 candidates, who were either women or from ethnic minority backgrounds, were accelerated into training places ahead of other candidates.
The RAF said it accepts the drive amounted to positive discrimination as set out by a Ministry of Defence report, adding it will not “make the same mistakes again”.
Former Group Captain Lizzy Nicholl quit her role as head of the drive because she received legal advice which said it was in breach of the Equality Act 2010.
Former Air Force Pilot Andrew Brookes tells TalkTV’s Mike Graham that the RAF are spending too much time trying to “revolutionise UK social policy” after admitting to discriminating against white male candidates.
“They’ve forgotten that their primary job is to defend the United Kingdom.”
Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton said in response: “The belief at that time, based on the understanding of the recruiting process and interpretation of the legal advice, was that this practice demonstrated acceptable, positive action. We now know that it did not, and I apologise unreservedly to all those affected.
“We accept that some men were discriminated against. This included a group of 31 individuals, who likely missed the opportunity to qualify for a £5,000 joining bonus. We have identified those people and are retrospectively offering to award them any financial payment they missed out on.
“Those involved in Recruiting and Selection throughout this period acted with the best of intentions; but it is clear that people responsible for implementing these policies did raise concerns at the time, and the way in which long-term aspirational goals set by senior leadership to improve diversity in the RAF were translated into personal performance targets was wrong.”
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