Army relies on under-18s to provide 30pc of its recruits

THE Army has been accused of “leaning on” under-18s in order to plug recruitment gaps, with 16- and 17-year-olds accounting for nearly 30 per cent of those enlisted last year.

Data compiled by the Child Rights International Network (CRIN) shows that the Army recruited 1,000 16-year-olds and 820 17-year-olds last year, with the young recruits more likely to come from poorer areas.

The UK is the only country in Europe that routinely recruits people aged under 18, and Charlotte Cooper, campaigns coordinator with CRIN, told The Guardian: “The Army is leaning on teenagers from the most deprived backgrounds to fix its recruitment crisis, using them to fill the riskiest roles because it can’t persuade enough adults to enlist.”

According to figures compiled by Ms Cooper and rounded to the nearest five, 55 teenagers aged 16 and 17 from Blackpool South enlisted between April 2013 and April 2018, while 50 came from Kingston upon Hull East. Children as young as 15 years and seven months can start their applications to become a soldier, but cannot join until they are 16.

Soldiers cannot be deployed on operations outside the UK until they are 18, and anyone under that age needs written parental consent to be able to enlist.

Government data released earlier this month revealed that the strength of the military fell for the ninth year in a row. The 74,400 regular fully-trained troops is over 7,000 short of the target figure of 82,000, a deficit of over 9 per cent.

A recent controversial Army advertising series appeared to resonate with target audiences, despite branding young people as “snowflakes”, “phone zombies”, “binge gamers” and “selfie addicts”.

An MOD spokesman said: “We are proud of the opportunities serving in the Armed Forces affords young people, from basic literacy education and support for postgraduate degrees, to high-quality accredited training and unique employment prospects.”