Warning that Armed Forces now ‘running to stand still’

BRITAIN’S ARMED Forces are “hollowing out” due to low recruitment levels, a new report has warned.

The study by former Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois, which was commissioned by Downing Street, says all three branches of the military are “running to stand still” as they struggle to replace the numbers leaving.

Mr Francois said in the year to April 2017, 12,950 recruits joined the regular Armed Forces, but 14,970 service personnel left in the same period.

The Army faces the biggest challenge as it needs to recruit 10,000 people a year to maintain its strength, but managed to attract only 7,000 entrants last year.

The report states: “The Royal Navy and the RAF are now running at around 10 per cent short of their annual recruitment target, whilst for the Army the shortfall is over 30 per cent.

“Constant pressure on recruiting budgets has only compounded the difficulty.”

The study expressed concern about the Army’s outsourced recruiting contract with Capita which it says is “performing badly”. The report states the Ministry of Defence needs to do “far better” at recruiting people from black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds as they currently make up only seven per cent of the Armed Forces.

Mr Francois pointed out there is no BAME officer of two star rank, major general level or above, in the military. With women making up just 10 per cent of the Armed Forces, more effort needs to be put into attracting female applicants, the report says.

The Ministry of Defence’s health assessments need to be externally reviewed as more than 14,000 candidates for the Army were rejected on medical grounds in the year to February 2017, the study said.

Mr Francois called for schoolchildren to be educated about the importance of the Armed Forces as part of the national curriculum.

An MOD spokesman said: “We’re aware of and working on the issues outlined in the report, including investing in recruiting the next generation of talent, diversifying our workforce and increasing our reserve numbers.”