News story

Ministry of Defence launches Unified Career Management

The MOD launches a new approach to career management for select groups of military personnel

5 military and civilian personnel sit around a table in a meeting room.

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The Ministry of Defence (MOD) introduced a new approach to the career management of service personnel called ‘Unified Career Management’ (UCM) on 1 June. The approach has been developed to improve the armed forces’ ability to retain and develop personnel in specialist roles.

UCM centralises the career management of select groups from specialist areas across defence into one Command. Personnel who are managed through UCM will benefit from new and bespoke career pathways, allowing them to progress their careers while remaining in specialist roles.

UCM has been successfully launched, with Strategic Command managing a defence-wide ‘Cyber Cadre’. This is a group of cyber specialists from across the armed forces. These personnel will be able to undertake more cyber roles across defence throughout their career, and will therefore see their cyber career choices increase, benefit from improved career stability, and deepen their cyber expertise.

For defence, UCM will mean that people with in-demand skills can be employed in the most important roles more quickly and easily. These benefits will support the growth of the UK’s cyber capability.

UCM demonstrates defence’s commitment to its people and ensures that they have the best career opportunities and skill development possible. It will help ensure that defence has the best talent possible to defend the nation, and remains a fulfilling place to work and grow, and where specialist skills can thrive.

Whilst the UCM model is currently being used to manage personnel in cyber roles, the model is being considered for other groups of specialists, including the majority of medical personnel.

Published 3 June 2021