Age cap could be raised to tackle Armed Forces recruitment crisis

The return of Dad’s Army? Defence minister suggests age cap on service personnel could be raised to help tackle recruitment crisis

• 5,420 more people left than joined the regular Armed Forces in the year to April

The Armed Forces should consider allowing older personnel to serve for longer in a bid to combat a recruitment crisis, a defence minister has suggested.

Andrew Murrison admitted he was ‘not happy’ with either recruitment or retention of staff in the military as he called for a more ‘flexible’ approach to its workforce.

He also said Armed Forces chiefs should be ‘casting the net more widely’ to hire more neurodiverse people as warfare changes with an increasing focus on cyber capabilities.

Ministry of Defence data showed 5,420 more people left than joined the regular Armed Forces in the year to April.

Recruitment to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines was down 22.1 per cent compared to the previous year, while recruitment to the Army was down 14.6 per cent year-on-year, and the RAF down 16.6 per cent.

It was recently reported how the Royal Navy had held an emergency board meeting to discuss staffing problems.

Defence minister Andrew Murrison admitted he was ‘not happy’ with either recruitment or retention of staff in the military as he called for a more ‘flexible’ approach to its workforce

Ministry of Defence data showed 5,420 more people left than joined the regular Armed Forces in the year to April

Could it be the return of Dad’s Army? Mr Murrison said military chiefs should consider allowing older personnel to serve for longer in a bid to combat a recruitment crisis

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Murrison acknowledged the Armed Forces faced a ‘catalogue’ of gaps in recruitment, including engineers, chefs and psychiatrists.

He said the situation was not ‘disastrous’, but added: ‘I’m not happy with recruitment and I’m not happy with retention.’

Mr Murrison outlined how existing service personnel could be allowed to serve for longer to tackle the issue.

‘As the workforce ages, as we compete for available talent, I think we have to look at hard cut offs for service personnel,’ he said.

He noted how it was ‘quite difficult to serve beyond the age of 55 unless you’re very, very senior’ and anyone in the Armed Forces over the age of 60 is an ‘exception’.

The defence minister added there was ‘no philosophical barrier as to why we couldn’t look at extending the age of retirement’.

Mr Murrison also spoke of ‘casting the net more widely’ as the military moves towards becoming a more skills-based organisation amid the rise of cyber warfare.

He said he wanted to explore recruiting more staff with autism, Asperger’s and ADHD, who may ‘have skills and attributes which other people do not have’.

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