Recruitment and retention challenges at GCHQ have seen the intelligence agency's total headcount shrink to the lowest level in three years, according to data published by a parliamentary committee.

Bringing in new staff and convincing existing personnel to stay at the Cheltenham-based agency have proven a significant challenge in recent years, reports US website The Record.

The lengthy hiring process and the distance between public and private sector salaries for cyber specialists are contributing factors, as was the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to an annex of the Intelligence and Security Committee's (ISC) annual report, the total number of full-time equivalent staff employed by GCHQ in the year ending March 2022 dropped to 7,082.

This was a minor drop of just over 1% from the 7,181 people employed by the agency in the previous year but is the first time that the agency's total headcount has gone down in the five years that the ISC has been reporting on its recruitment numbers.

Despite more than 200 roles going unfilled in that year, and more than 460 unfilled the year prior, the agency reported several "major achievements" to the parliamentary committee, including that GCHQ and the National Cyber Force supported the British government's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Also hailed was how GCHQ's work had been a "key factor in revising the severity of the threat assessment for Kabul airport" during the withdrawal from Afghanistan. This, the ISC report stated, ultimately affected how British Forces were deployed at the airport and had a "significant impact in reducing casualties and saving lives in relation to the suicide attack that took place."