Armed Forces to examine incentives to attract and retain talent

Britain's Armed Forces are examining ways to attract and retain new and next generations in the military after a series of recommendations were made in an independent review.

The review, published on Monday, examined the incentives to those serving in the military – both now and in the future – with a view to modernising the services and making life in the Armed Forces a more appealing offer, to 2035 and beyond.

It suggests 67 recommendations that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) will now look to implement as part of the ongoing modernisation of the Armed Forces.

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Recommendations in the review included looking at how to get accommodation and allowances right – both home and overseas – and prioritising investment in single-living and service families accommodation to replace and upgrade the current stock.

The review, named the Haythornthwaite Review of Armed Forces Incentivisation, also suggests the Armed Forces puts into place incentives employed in the private sector such as a 'people-value-proposition' (PVP), a scheme in which the value a company offers to employees comes in return for the value they bring to the organisation.

Another area the review looks at is the expansion of the already popular Forces Help To Buy scheme (FHTB), which provides serving personnel the opportunity to get themselves onto the property ladder without having any money previously saved.

FHTB allows troops to borrow by way of an advance, the equivalent of half their annual salary – before tax – up to a maximum of £25,000.

The review also recommends that the way personnel access subsidised food should be more flexible, "more like the real world" and that a "military Deliveroo-style" service should be introduced.

Recommendations also include an uplift from £25,000 to £100,000 per year for authorised commanders to spend without "bureaucratic barriers to its use", on quick wins or repairs to accommodation and infrastructure.

It follows a pledge in the 2021 Defence Command Paper, which promised to look at how military personnel are paid and rewarded and looks as far out as 2035.

The review's authors said they acknowledged the work already done in defence to improve the lived experience for serving personnel, including housing subsidies and childcare savings of up to £3,400 per year per child through the expansion of the wraparound childcare scheme.

The recommendations are wide ranging – from embracing new technologies, to the improvement of accommodation, to subsidised meals. The review also explores how societal changes will impact the way we recruit for tomorrow, by ensuring we are delivering the right mixture of incentives to recruit and retain the best talent.

Andrew Murrison MP, Minister for Defence, People, Veterans and Service Families, said: "I want to thank Rick Haythornthwaite and his team for their comprehensive review and recommendations.

"Defence is competing for talent. We want good people to stay and we want to recruit the best we can.

"That means we must ensure we're providing the best opportunities, support and experience possible for our people and their families. It's clear, while we have much to do, there is a path to improving our offer and we will work hard to achieve it."

The review aims to make significant changes to multiple parts of the proposition to serving personnel, including the loosening of the link between rank and pay to focus on the rewarding of skills, and a rebooting of current digital platforms and systems to embrace new technologies.

It has also sought to rebalance both the financial and non-financial elements of the Ministry of Defence's offer so that spending has the highest impact on recruitment and retention, ensuring value for the taxpayer and making sure our personnel feel valued and rewarded for the exceptional things they do.

Rick Haythornthwaite, Review Chairperson, said: "It has been a privilege for me over the last year to meet our sailors, soldiers and aviators and hear first-hand about the impressive things they are doing.

"I've seen how leaders at all levels are working hard to do their best for their people. I know they can achieve much more if they are given the freedoms, tools and resources to focus on what matters – making every one of our service people feel valued. 

"We have developed an ambitious set of recommendations that I hope will make a real difference to people's everyday lives and better enable the services to achieve their goals."

Collette Musgrave, Army Families Federation Chief Executive said: "AFF provided a wide range of evidence to the Haythornthwaite Review, drawn directly from the thousands of enquiries that we receive from Army personnel and their families every year.

"And we welcomed the opportunity to discuss those elements of 'the offer' that families have told us they value – such as access to Service Families Accommodation – in detail with the Review Team.

"We look forward to seeing the Review's recommendations on how the defence offer should be shaped for the future."

Alongside the work identified in the review, the MOD says it has already invested £185m to improve housing standards in the last year.

The department said it also improved pay and conditions last year by offering the biggest pay increase for 20 years and freezing daily food costs.

The MOD says it would now take forward the recommendations in the review and would be providing a response on their implementation in due course, saying it was part of its commitment to improving the experience for personnel and ensuring the military remains a place where people are proud to serve.