Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications to join the armed forces have been (a) received and (b) processed by Capita in each month since January 2021.

The British Army conducts recruiting activities in partnership with Capita under the Recruiting Partnering Project (RPP), whereas the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force deliver recruitment in-house. The below tables therefore represent applications to the Regular Army only.

Table 1 - Army Regular Applications broken down by Officers and Other Ranks by month from 1 January to 30 September 2021

Table 2 - Army Regular Basic Training Entrants broken down by Officers and Other Ranks by month from 1 January to 31 December 2021

Notes/Caveats:

Tables are independent of each other and not a Cohort Analysis.

Table 1

1. Figures define an application as an online application submitted by an individual and accepted by the Defence Recruitment System (DRS).

2. Figures reflect the number of applications. Applicants may apply more than once in the same period.

3. The volumetric count of applications as collated here, must not be used as a performance indicator, and should not be compared year on year. A change in volume does not equate to a change in popularity of the Army or performance of the Recruiting Partnering Project. Marketing campaigns and recruiting activity are designed to match the number of applications with the required size and shape of the Army as set by the MoD over a several year period.

4. From 1st January to 30th September 2021 - 8,460 Officers and 54,827 Other Ranks have either been rejected or withdrawn from the Application process. This is not a cohort analysis of Table 1 and a large number of these personnel had applied prior to 1 January 2021.

5. Application data runs on a three-month lag; therefore, figures are only available up to 30th September 2021 as at the date of the latest Service Personnel Statistics publication.

Table 2

1. Applications processed by Capita has been interpreted as applicants who entered Basic Training.

2. The figures are for the Regular Army only and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve, and all other Reserves, but includes those personnel that have transferred from GURTAM to UKTAP.

3. Figures exclude personnel transferring from the Navy or RAF.

4. Some personnel may have left Basic Training and subsequently re-joined. If any personnel have joined, left and re-joined during this time period then they will be counted more than once in these figures.

5. Basic Training Entrant Inflow is seasonal. Royal Military Academy Sandhurst has three main commissioning courses starting in January, May and September each year for Officers entering the Regular Army. Other Ranks entrants are seasonal due to events such as the start of the Junior Entrant course in Army Foundation College Harrogate in September and March each year and low numbers of entrants during December.

6. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5 to limit disclosure and ensure confidentiality.

7. Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not appear to be the sum of their parts.

8. “~” fewer than 5. “-” denotes zero.