British Army recruitment slumps by a third, leaving frontline strength ‘seriously eroded’ Capita recruitment contract blamed for leaving the armed forces short

British frontline army units have suffered a recruitment slump of up to a third, casting doubt over their capability for action.

The figures were published in response to a parliamentary question by the MP Mark Francois who is also a member of the defence select committee.

The Scots Guards, 1st Battalion, only had 460 personnel in October last year. This is 34% below its 697 workforce requirement, The Guardian reported. The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, 2nd Battalion, had 330 people, 31% below its target.

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The Welsh Guards, 1st Battalion, and the Mercian Regiment, 2nd Battalion, had only 72% of their target strength. The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, 1st Battalion, had only 74%.

The figures also showed that only three out of 30 infantry battalions met or exceeded their requirement.

Capita calamity

Mr Francois, the Conservative MP for Rayleigh and Wickford said: “The frontline strength of the regular army is now being seriously eroded by the lack of recruits to refresh infantry battalions, because of the calamity that is the Capita recruitment contract.”

He added that the drop in recruits “affects the defence of the realm” and called out the “incompetent” Capita for “impacting our national security”.

“Ministers should sack them without hesitation,” he said.

An army spokesperson, however, defended the number of recruits and said the army would continue to work with Capita.

Plan in place

“The ‘workforce requirement’ is not the minimum threshold the army needs to fulfil its operational requirements, it represents the number of positions in each battalion.”

“We are fully committed to improving our recruiting process, and working with Capita, we have put in place a plan to address the challenges.”

Capita won the 10-year contract for Army recruitment in 2012. It has failed to meet recruitment targets every year since.