Strict medical rules mean even England rugby team would struggle to join Army, MPs told
Even the current England rugby team "would struggle" to join the Army, a recruitment chief has said as the British Army is challenged to examine its recruitment process.
MPs have heard that strict medical tests for joining the Army mean it can take 150 days for would-be recruits to join up, delaying the process and impacting recruitment targets.
The Army has recruited only around half of its April to March annual target of soldiers – with only a few weeks to go to boost the numbers.
Recruitment firm Capita, which has a contract to help the Army attract regular and reserve soldiers and officers, had been targeting a total of 9,813 recruits for 2023/24 but has only been able to attract around 5,000 since April last year.
Capita managing director Richard Holroyd, told a defence select committee inquiry that with more data they can challenge the Army's medical assessments.
He said: "The amount of medical scrutiny that we now have, and the amount of medical evidence and medical science has progressed such that we have far much more data on people than we used to have."
Mr Holroyd highlighted that young people with tattoos above the collar line or on their hands, sufferers of hay fever and asthma, people with a high body mass index (BMI), and those who had broken bones in childhood were often being ruled out.
"I think the current England rugby team would struggle to join the Army," Mr Holroyd said.
'Committed to working to drive recruiting up'
Senior executives told the Commons Defence Committee they expected to reach 70% of the target by the end of March.
Capita was awarded a 10-year contract by the Ministry of Defence in 2012, which was extended by two years in 2020.
Mr Holroyd said: "We are forecasting hitting 70%, so I believe we are going to hit 70% for the year. That's the number we've shared with the Army in our meetings.
"We are throwing everything we can at this because it isn't just a matter of the financial element, we recognise the importance of this to the nation and to the Armed Forces which we serve.
"So we are completely committed to working to drive recruiting up."
MPs also heard that recruitment to specialist roles in the service was also below target.
Figures from some "pinch-point roles", such as human resources and communications, were as low as 20%.
Capita said it hoped to speed up the recruitment process to help attract more applicants to the Army.
Mr Holroyd told the Defence Committee: "We are working... extremely hard on moving the cycle time.
"We are aware that that time lag and the fact that it takes 150 days to join the Army means that some of our potential recruits get attracted elsewhere."
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