Ministry of Defence initiatives to plug staffing gaps have failed with the shortfall in military personnel now at more than 8,000 people, a 10-year high, the official public spending watchdog has found.
The National Audit Office called for the department to “fundamentally change its approach” to recruitment and training of civilians and military personnel.
An NAO report into skills in the armed forces showed gaps across the board and in particular in critical skills such as intelligence and engineering. The MoD is unlikely to meet these shortfalls in the next five years, the report said.
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The NAO found that the Armed Forces were short of full-time military personnel, or regulars, by 5.7% (8,200 people). That is “the largest gap in a decade”, according to the report. In 2016-17 there was a 24% shortfall against targets for recruitment of regulars.
But the watchdog also found much larger gaps in “critical skills” particularly in engineering, intelligence, logistics, pilots, communications and medical. Across 102 “pinch point” trade areas, there was a shortfall of 18%.
The problem is likely to get worse as the MoD will increasingly require specialist technical and digital skills to respond to the emerging threats of modern warfare, the report said.
Retention is also an issue: the percentage of regulars voluntarily leaving the Armed Forces increased from 3.8% annually in March 2010 to 5.6% in December 2017. The NAO called on the department to look into why there are retention problems, particularly in certain trades.
The department relies on a “a ‘base-fed’ model” whereby regulars are recruited into the lowest ranks and their skills developed over time. There are other initiatives to recruit skilled people, but they are largely “at an early stage and small-scale”, the report said. The MoD has also introduced a new pay model and flexible working initiatives in recent years to address problems.
But NAO head Amyas Morse said the MoD’s methods were not working, and that it needs to “fundamentally change its approach” to developing its people.
He said: “Ensuring the armed dorces have the right number of skilled personnel in place is not a new challenge, but given the complexity and development of new, modern-world threats, it is a challenge that will only continue to grow.
“The department needs to fundamentally change its approach to develop skilled personnel and address the long-established shortfalls that persist.”
An MoD spokesperson said: “Recruiting and retaining talent is one of our top priorities and we have a range of schemes, including retention pay for and direct entry into specialist trades and flexible working to make sure we attract and keep the skilled personnel we need.
“The military has enough personnel to meet all its operational requirements, including being active on 25 operations in 30 countries throughout the world. In the past year we have recruited over 13,000 people into the armed forces.”
The department has spent £664m on recruitment and retention incentives in the past five years, and introduced 19 workforce projects since 2010 that have aimed to improved terms and conditions for forces personnel.
The MoD is expected to publish a capability review, the Modernising Defence Programme, in the summer. This review was announced in January – it replaced a strand of the National Security Capability Review that was postponed following heavy lobbying from defence secretary Gavin Williamson, who said troop numbers needed to be reassessed.
Garry Graham, deputy general secretary of the trade union Prospect, described the report’s findings as “worrying” and said the skills shortage across the military and civilian workforce had “the potential to damage UK defence capability for decades”.
He added: “We know that since 2010 there has been an increase in the number of uniformed personnel taking on civilian posts, so the impact on front line is even worse than the headline figures in this report suggest.
“Years of budget cuts have already caused significant pressure on the civilian workforce, which has been cut by over a third since 2010, and has led to a lack of capacity in many scientific and technical roles in particular.
“Combined with the gap in the defence equipment budget of up to £21bn, it is clear that the currently level of defence spending is totally inadequate.”
Graham urged the government to listen to the staff, unions and MPs that have been calling for the department to be properly resourced.
The Public Accounts Committee chair, Meg Hillier, also responded to the report: "In these uncertain times, it is more critical than ever that Britain has a well-staffed armed forces with the technical know-how to handle threats to national security.
“But the National Audit Office report shows that the armed forces are woefully below complement, especially in crucial areas like intelligence and engineering.
“The Ministry of Defence needs to take a long hard look at its current approach. Without more innovative methods to attract and retain staff, the UK risks continuing with big gaps in capability and overstretching already hard working and crucial service personnel."