The already-stretched UK Armed Forces have lost even more staff in the past three months, figures have revealed.
Statistics from the Defence Analytical Services Agency showed the forces to be at 96.8% full-time trained strength, down from 97.1% in January.
This is despite the target number again being reduced by 340 heads to 183,610 because of Army restructuring to improve efficiency.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has launched several recruitment initiatives in recent months to tackle its staffing problems, including:
- Changing Navy job titles, such as HR staff rebranded ‘personnel logisticians’ from ‘writers’, to bring them in line with civilian HR roles.
An MoD spokeswoman said: “There are challenges in certain areas, but we are trying hard to resolve them and have introduced ambitious recruitment and retention initiatives, including financial incentives and plans to improve work-life balance.
“Recruitment into the Armed Forces is improving and latest Army figures show a 12% increase in the number of people who have joined since last year.”
Recruitment of members from ethnic minority backgrounds has increased to 5.8% from 5.5% at the same point last year.
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