Army reserves recruitment target under fire
8 September 2014
Allegations that the Ministry of Defence did not test the feasibility of recruiting and training thousands of soldiers in a redesign, known as ‘Army 2020’, have been met with confidence from the ministry that it can deliver on targets.
Mon, 5 Sep 2014 | By Sarah MarquetAllegations that the Ministry of Defence did not test the feasibility of recruiting and training thousands of soldiers in a redesign, known as ‘Army 2020’, have been met with confidence from the ministry that it can deliver on targets.
Army 2020 requires a reduction in the size of the Army including a significant reduction on the number of regular soldiers (from 102,000 to about 82,000) by December 2018, and an increase in the number of reserves (19,000 to about 30,000) by 2019. It is expected to save over £10bn over 10 years.
In a critical report published on Friday (5 September), the Public Accounts Committee said:
In releasing the report, committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge said it was “astonishing” the MoD pushed ahead with its plans without first testing whether it was doable, and without consulting the Army.
“We remain to be convinced with MoD will recruit the required numbers in time,” she said.
“The MoD's bungling around the recruitment contract with Capita has meant at least £70m of the planned £267m savings from the contract have already been lost. There was no clear understanding of the scale of the recruitment challenge, poor information about potential recruits and the MoD did not provide Capita with the IT infrastructure it needed.”
In response, defence secretary Michael Fallon said: “The Chief of the General Staff and I are confident that we will reach our target of 30,000 trained Army Reservists by 2018/19. Indeed, we have arrested the many years of decline and neglect that has plagued our Reserve Forces and now we need to build on that.
“Working closely with the Army and Capita, we have already addressed many of the points raised in this report … our targets are challenging but they are achievable.”
A Capita spokesperson told Recruiter it gave evidence to the committee, which included that the recruitment target of 6,000 reserves for 2013-14 had not been agreed on.
“In addition, the Army recruitment partnership is not yet working at full operating capability as a result of well documented delays in the provision to Capita of vital ICT infrastructure.”
An MoD spokesperson said a new IT platform would be ready by next summer and in the meantime, “mitigation measures” have been introduced to the current IT platform to simplify the application process.
“It is unfortunate that there have been problems over the ICT but these have been addressed and are in the process of being resolved. We have absolute confidence in Capita to deliver the support to the Army that we expect.”
Among the committee’s recommendations was that the Army should establish clear trigger points for enacting contingency measures if recruitment and retention rates were not improved, and gaps emerge in the Army’s structure.
Army 2020 requires a reduction in the size of the Army including a significant reduction on the number of regular soldiers (from 102,000 to about 82,000) by December 2018, and an increase in the number of reserves (19,000 to about 30,000) by 2019. It is expected to save over £10bn over 10 years.
In a critical report published on Friday (5 September), the Public Accounts Committee said:
- The MoD did not adequately consult the Army or fully assess the feasibility of the plan.
- The Army needs to increase the trained strength of the reserves to 30,000, but numbers have remained around 19,000 for the last two years.
- The Army says there will be an increased risk of capability gaps until it reaches the 30,000 target.
- There was no clear understanding in the Army’s recruitment contract with Capita of the scale of the recruitment challenge and Capita recruited less than 2000 in 2013-14 against a target of 6,000.
In releasing the report, committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge said it was “astonishing” the MoD pushed ahead with its plans without first testing whether it was doable, and without consulting the Army.
“We remain to be convinced with MoD will recruit the required numbers in time,” she said.
“The MoD's bungling around the recruitment contract with Capita has meant at least £70m of the planned £267m savings from the contract have already been lost. There was no clear understanding of the scale of the recruitment challenge, poor information about potential recruits and the MoD did not provide Capita with the IT infrastructure it needed.”
In response, defence secretary Michael Fallon said: “The Chief of the General Staff and I are confident that we will reach our target of 30,000 trained Army Reservists by 2018/19. Indeed, we have arrested the many years of decline and neglect that has plagued our Reserve Forces and now we need to build on that.
“Working closely with the Army and Capita, we have already addressed many of the points raised in this report … our targets are challenging but they are achievable.”
A Capita spokesperson told Recruiter it gave evidence to the committee, which included that the recruitment target of 6,000 reserves for 2013-14 had not been agreed on.
“In addition, the Army recruitment partnership is not yet working at full operating capability as a result of well documented delays in the provision to Capita of vital ICT infrastructure.”
An MoD spokesperson said a new IT platform would be ready by next summer and in the meantime, “mitigation measures” have been introduced to the current IT platform to simplify the application process.
“It is unfortunate that there have been problems over the ICT but these have been addressed and are in the process of being resolved. We have absolute confidence in Capita to deliver the support to the Army that we expect.”
Among the committee’s recommendations was that the Army should establish clear trigger points for enacting contingency measures if recruitment and retention rates were not improved, and gaps emerge in the Army’s structure.
