Depleted military handed £1.3bn spending boost

Ministers are ploughing £1.3bn into army recruitment to bolster the UK's depleted armed forces and tackle a crisis of staff retention, The Independent can reveal.

- MILLIE COOKE

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) last month announced the creation of a new body, the Armed Forces Recruitment Service (AFRS), to streamline the hiring process and ensure the British military “remains ready to face emerging threats”.

It is set to launch in 2027 and will replace individual schemes run by the Royal Navy, British army, and Royal Air Force. A contract for the delivery of AFRS, worth £1.3bn, was awarded to defence and security firm Serco and will run until March 2034.

It comes just weeks after the government announced plans to boost defence spending as the UK readies itself to provide peacekeeping troops to Ukraine as part of a plan to end the war with Russia. The new programme is part of an attempt to turn the tide on the growing recruitment crisis plaguing Britain’s armed forces.

The MoD said it would remedy issues with inefficiencies and delays in recruitment that have led to fewer than one in 10 applicants joining the armed forces in 2023.