Goody bags won’t save the British Army |
Britain’s public sector has a recruitment problem. Whether it be nurses in the NHS or bobbies on the beat, the British state consistently fails to attract and retain workers. This is particularly evident in arguably our most important sector, defence.
Last year, the number of applications to join the Army’s regular forces fell by almost a third. The armed forces have been persistently losing personnel quicker than they are able to recruit (though recently this has thankfully been reversed through improvements in the RAF and Navy). This has been happening while Britain is trying to rebuild its military capabilities through the Defence Investment Plan in order to face “a darker world” after decades of shrinking defence spending.
The “goody bag” is a worrying sign of how slow Armed Forces recruitment has become
The “goody bag” is a worrying sign of how slow Armed Forces recruitment has become
The Ministry of Defence has recognised that failing to get potential trainees through the recruitment process quickly is part of the problem. There have been some improvements. The so-called “time of flight” – the gap between initial recruitment and beginning training – has been slowly coming down. In 2023, it took approximately 496 days for an individual to begin training; in 2024, it fell to 290 days. Impressive, but this is still the best part of ten months. In the early 2000s, it was around six to 12 weeks. Understandably, the MoD has conceded that this duration must continue to shorten.
This made it all the more confusing then to see the British Army’s latest tactic: to send surprise ‘welcome packs’ to new recruits ahead of starting Phase One training. The box contains a pen, a notebook and a £20 (you can find it cheaper) Casio........