Army is thousands of troops understrength after £500m bungling
THE British Army has been left thousands of troops understrength because it “underestimated the complexity” of hiring a firm on a £495million contract, the Government’s financial watchdog revealed yesterday.
It also presided over the development of an online recruitment system with the firm Capita. But it was launched more than four years late at a cost of £113million, or triple the original budget.
This led to 13,000 fewer applications than expected between November 2017 and March 2018, said the National Audit Office.
It said that the recruiting system is so complex that it can take up to 11 months from applying to beginning basic training.
As a result 47 per cent of applicants gave up voluntarily in 2017’18. The Army appointed Capita in 2012 on a £495million, 10-year contract to oversee recruitment.
Delayed
But Capita has missed the Army targets for recruiting soldiers and officers every year since, starting by as much as 45 per cent.
The Army is currently 2,360 personnel below its 82,000 target – which is itself its smallest size in 200 years.
But the NAO said that in July the Army was 5,600 regular soldiers, or seven per cent, below its required strength and will not meet its 2020 target.
In a report, the NAO said: “The British Army and its contractor, Capita Business Services, underestimated the complexity of the project, which has been beset with problems, such as the delayed introduction of the online recruitment system.”
A Capita spokesman said: “As the NAO report states, both Capita and the Army underestimated the complexity of this project.
“We are absolutely committed to getting this partnership right.” THIS report makes clear that the Army and Capita’s approach was fundamentally flawed. I feel one of the biggest mistakes they made was the mass closure of local recruiting offices.
I know from experience it is vital to be able to meet with soldiers who have been there, done it and seen it – those who can provide potential recruits with first-hand knowledge and experience of what to expect from a career in the military and, more importantly, what will be expected of you.
You cannot replace that knowledge and experience with online manuals.
In most cases, it should not take 11 months from applying to actually join up. Anyone who applies for a job naturally wants to get on with it.
A review of why the IT project took four years and cost three times its budget is clearly required and lessons should be learnt from this mistake.
What is frustrating is that the military recently made so many soldiers redundant when they could have had the option to be retrained and deployed to recruitment roles.
But despite my injuries in Afghanistan, I still believe the military is a great career choice.