Royal Navy: MoD boosts recruitment spending to offset plunging numbers as government promises support force

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Recruitment spending to bolster the Royal Navy has increased sharply to try and tackle personnel shortages.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by PoliticsHome has shown the Ministry of Defence (MoD) spent £72.625m on the force’s recruitment in the 2023-2024 financial year. This has risen by 19.8 per cent from £60.619m in the previous term.

Recruitment spending - which includes marketing, IT systems, medicals and operational running costs such as travel and subsistence for associated staff - had remained at roughly £60m for three years before spiking in 2023-2024, according to the government statistics.

The government has increased spending on Royal Navy recruitment, with the force struggling to meet their employment quotas over the last five financial years. Pictured is: The Royal Navy guard marching on Remembrance Sunday.The government has increased spending on Royal Navy recruitment, with the force struggling to meet their employment quotas over the last five financial years. Pictured is: The Royal Navy guard marching on Remembrance Sunday.
The government has increased spending on Royal Navy recruitment, with the force struggling to meet their employment quotas over the last five financial years. Pictured is: The Royal Navy guard marching on Remembrance Sunday. | Keith Woodland (101121-34)

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In response to a parliamentary written question issued on October 30 by Rupert Lowe, Reform UK MP for Great Yarmouth, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for defence, Luke Pollard, said recruitment for the Royal Navy against the target had fallen from 84 per cent in the financial year 2019-20 to 61 per cent last year. Just 2,450 people signed up to the force against a target of 4,040.

The figures include Full-Time Naval Service personnel for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines - including Nursing Services - but not Full-Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel and reservists. “The new government has made improving recruitment and readiness of our armed forces an early priority,” Mr Pollard said. “The Secretary of State has already made announcements to improve recruitment and further announcements will be made by the Ministry of Defence in due course.”

The crisis in staffing levels and bringing new people into the forces was addressed in parliament last month. One of the causes, raised by Liberal Democrat MP Helen Maguire, was people dealing with long waits for medical assessments, with valuable candidates falling by the wayside while results are being processed. The current government has already scrapped “over 100 outdated medical policies”, Mr Pollard said, which included sufferers of Eczema. Another factor was poor morale, with defence secretary John Healey stating it was at a “record low” due to poor accommodation, pay and staffing levels.

An MoD spokesperson told PoliticsHome that the figures covered spending under the Conservative government. They added: “This government inherited a recruitment crisis, with targets being missed every year for the past 14 years and is taking decisive action to stop the long-term decline in numbers. We have already given personnel the largest pay rise in decades and scrapped 100 outdated policies that block and slow down recruitment.”

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