The British Army is set to be reinforced with additional Commonwealth troops as it continues to struggle with recruitment and retention issues, according to reports. It is said hundreds more Commonwealth recruits will be allowed to join the Army under rules set up to fill significant gaps in numbers.
The move was unveiled in a leaked memo and will allow an extra 330 foreign recruits to sign up. An announcement could be made this week, reports say. The Express has approached the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for a comment.
Under current rules, 15% of the trained strength of the Army — currently 70,800 — can be from Commonwealth nations, but the military chief wants this to apply to the target figure of 73,000, the newspaper reports, citing the memo.
The leaked note, detailing the plans reported by The Times, said the cap “has always been to reduce the operational risk of over-reliance on personnel who are not fully under the control of the UK government should their country of origin object to where those personnel are deployed”.
“We have also borne in mind the importance of ensuring that the armed forces continue to be representative of the UK,” it added.