Army recruitment delays see soldiers wait a whole year to join - as MPs say the ... trends now
Soldiers are taking up to a year to go through the recruitment process, it emerged yesterday.
MPs branded the situation 'utter madness' and said 'Putin will be laughing'.
Military sources said the situation was exacerbating a recruitment crisis and that, across some areas of the Armed Forces, it meant as many as three personnel were leaving for every new recruit.
Capita runs recruiting on the Army's behalf under a £1.4billion contract that has been repeatedly criticised by MPs.
In an evidence session with the Commons defence committee in January, senior Capita staff admitted that only 5,000 soldiers had been recruited by that point in 2023/24. This was despite having a target of 9,813 for the year.
Labour's John Spellar, who sits on the committee, said MPs have since been informed that it was taking up to 12 months to recruit some soldiers.
Military sources said the situation was exacerbating a recruitment crisis and that, across some areas of the Armed Forces, it meant as many as three personnel were leaving for every new recruit (File Photo)
Vladimir Putin. In an evidence session with the Commons defence committee in January, senior Capita staff admitted that only 5,000 soldiers had been recruited by that point in 2023/24. This was despite having a target of 9,813 for the year (File Photo)
He said: 'It's a complete mess. Aside from missing the targets, the process is taking far too long.
'And motivated people aren't going to sit around for months, they say 'I can go and get a job and earn money elsewhere'.
'Ministers really do need to get a grip of it because until they do, more people are always going to be leaving than joining.'
Former Armed Forces minister Mark Francois said: 'Capita's running of this has been a disaster.
'Our critical weakness now is people. It's a massive problem because a lot of people just get bored.
'If you're trying to join
