10 August 2023 , 16:32
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The Armed Forces are set to allow older sailors, soldiers and air staff to serve for longer in a bid to plug recruitment gaps. A Defence Minister has revealed plans for a more “flexible” approach to the workforce including raising age caps.
He also said military chiefs should be “casting the net more widely” to hire more neurodiverse people as warfare changes with an increasing focus on cyber capabilities. Andrew Murrison admitted the army, navy and air force are facing a “catalogue” of gaps from engineers, to chefs, to psychiatrists because of the country’s tight labour market.
“As the workforce ages, as we compete for available talent, I think we have to look at hard cut-offs for service personnel,” he told the Financial Times. “It’s quite difficult to serve beyond the age of 55 unless you’re very, very senior.” He added anyone in the forces over the age of 60 is an “exception”. He said staff would need to undergo “detailed assessment” to establish their fitness to continue in their roles, but there is “no philosophical barrier as to why we couldn’t look at extending the age of retirement”.
To become a Reserve Soldier, you can apply to join the Army until the day before your 50th birthday and 48 years and 9 months for Officer Roles. There are higher age limits for some specialist roles, and ex-Regular Rejoiners. Last year, 5,420 more people left than joined the regular armed forces. Recruitment to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines dropped 22.1% in the 12 months to March 2021. For the Army, it was down 14.6% year-on-year and the RAF down 16.6%.
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The Defence Minister, who is responsible for military personnel, said the situation is not “disastrous”, but admitted: “I’m not happy with recruitment and I’m not happy with retention.” He said the armed forces needed to do more to “compete” to hire and retain staff, adding he wanted to look into recruiting more troops with autism, Asperger’s and ADHD, who may “have skills and attributes which other people do not have”. Some neurodivergent people, including those with dyslexia and dyspraxia, already serve in the forces.
Troops' satisfaction with military life has plunged by a third since the Tories returned to power 13 years ago, a Labour study revealed in June. Satisfaction levels plummeted from 60% of personnel being content in 2010 to just 42% in 2023.
A government-commissioned review, published at the same time, found the armed forces was underperforming in recruiting people with tech skills. It also found below-inflation pay rises and that the private sector was trying to poach people with strong cyber skills.
Mr Murrison backed the review’s recommendation for the military to adopt more flexible pay structures. He wants to increase pay in specialist areas to incentivise “certain skills”, adding: “If we don’t pay people the market rate, they’re not going to stay.”
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