More than 14,000 army applicants are said to have been rejected from the armed forces due to tough Ministry of Defence rules.

Applicants are being rejected due to ailments such as low-level allergies and acne.

The figures have prompted accusations that the recruiting agency in charge of the MoD contract are misinterpreting medical guidelines.

Capita is the services company which is contracted to carry out medicals for armed forces applicants and has to adhere to rules set out by the MoD.

However, despite a huge recruitment drive from the army, as they continue to struggle to enlist soldiers, the force is still 5,000 soldiers short of its 82,000 recruitment target.

Army applicants are being turned away from the force (pictured above in Afghanistan) and a campaign has been launched to get the medical guidelines changed

This is while infantry battalions are about 30 per cent short of their required target and face problems with staff retention levels.

Across 2016-17 more than 14,000 applicants were rejected on medical grounds, which had prompted concerns that healthy people were being pushed away and deemed ‘medically fit’ to serve.

Guidelines from the MoD’s medical standards revolve around whether or not the applicant is ‘physically and mentally fit enough to train, serve and fight anywhere in the world’.

Speaking to the Times, a series of rejected army applicants said that Capita doctors unfairly deemed minor ailments to be incompatible with the army rules.

Recruits are being rejected due to minor health complaints such as acne (stock photo)

One hopeful recruit Jack, 17 from Leeds, said he failed the medical just last year as he had been suffering with acne and had cold hands and feet on the day of the assesment.

He said that this prompted Capita to warn that he my have circulation problems. He also pointed out to Capita that he was treating his acne with a topical cream and that it was likely to diminish over time. He also explained that he was cold as it had been snowing outside.

Despite this he did not prevail and a GP later said that he did not have a circulation problem. He has now said he is hoping to apply again once his acne clears up.

While applicants with low levels of treatable acne were dismissed others were sent away due to nut allergies

This is while doctors who worked at Capita criticised its system with one woman who used to assess recruits saying she quit the job as she was having to fail too many people.

She gave an example of a 16-year-old recruit who had been rejected because he had been given an inhaler four years prior to his application. Despite stating he had never used the inhaler, he was rejected.

The doctor said she resigned as faults in medical assessments were not being remedied.

She said: ‘We were turning down so many people. It was wrong’.

Now a campaign has been launched for the ministry to alter the rules.

Mark Francois, former armed forces minister said that the rules should be interpreted 'more intelligently'

Eddie, 28, has now founded the Right to Fight campaign which is aiming to get the military’s medical policy changed.

He was rejected from the force due to a nut allergy despite claiming that he had eaten 30,000 meals and had never suffered a reaction. He claimed the rules were ‘too strict’ and ‘unrealistic’.

Former armed forces minister and a member of the Commons defence select committee Mark Francois said while medical standards should not be lowered that they need to be understood at a different level.

The reasons Capita gave for rejecting army hopefuls Shellfish allergy One applicant was rejected because they had a low level shellfish allergy. The 15-year-old from East Anglia was rejected on medical grounds despite eating mussels and never having symptoms worse than itchy eyes. He is now attempting to have his allergy downgraded so he can enlist Nut allergy Another possible recruit Michael Wilson said he wanted to join the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards at the age of 16 but said he was turned away because of a nut allergy. His allergy is so weak that he isn't even require to carry an EpiPen. He last suffered a mild reaction more than a decade ago. Advertisement

‘We should interpret them more intelligently, particularly for people who have minor ailments that they managed successfully in everyday civilian life, such as allergies or minor eczema.

‘Capita are interpreting the medical guidelines in far too black and white a manner’.

He highlighted that there was a grey area which was widely rejecting people and that they would do better to take a ‘more intelligent approach’.

Elsewhere a spokesperson from Capita told the Times that the company was ‘contractually obligated’ to apply the MoD’s entry standard and said they do so as directed by the department.

‘Over the last 12 months we have worked with the ministry to be to contemporise medical policies without compromising safety and standards,’

They said that this has resulted in changes to the mental health policy which are currently being evaluated.

A spokesperson for the MoD said the ‘unique challenging’ roles in the force mean that they have high medical standards.

‘It is right that we have high medical standards to ensure that recruits can fulfil the demands of the job’.