Army recruitment is down as service tries to plug 4,000 gap

A FORMER minister has fired a fresh warning about Army recruitment as new figures show that numbers enlisting continue to fall.

Some 3,270 joined the regular Army in the first six months of 2017/18, according to the information obtained by former local government minister Mark Francois.

In 2016/17 some 6,921 people enlisted, then the lowest annual intake in three years.

Mr Francois said 10,000 Army recruits were needed every year and that, if numbers kept falling, the Government should drop private company Capita which is responsible with the Ministry of Defence, for recruitment.

However, the MoD insisted applications were rising.

Mr Francois said: “While applications may be rising, the number of actual enlistments, is continuing to fall.”

Army numbers fell to 77,440 in October, more than 4,000 short of its 82,000 target.

Figures obtained by Mr Francois through a written parliamentary question do show a great number of applications to the Army. For each of the past five years, between 43,000 and 51,000 people have applied to join the regular Army.

In the first six months of 2017/18, there were more than 35,000 applications.

An MoD spokesman said that many of these would still have been in the recruitment process when the figures were compiled and would have actually enlisted at a later date.

“Over 8,000 people joined the Army last financial year and applications are up in the first half of this one,” he added.