Armed forces recruitment in the North East

On 25 June 2025, there will be a debate on armed forces recruitment in the North East. This debate is sponsored by Alan Strickland MP.

Intake of armed forces personnel in the North East

The Ministry of Defence publishes statistics on the untrained intake to the UK Regular Forces, broken down by service type and region. UK Regular Forces are the main body of permanent personnel in the UK armed forces. This measure excludes Gurkhas, reservists, and other personnel categories.

As shown in the chart below, from 2015 to 2024, the number of untrained personnel joining the Regular Forces in the North East fell by 34%. For comparison over the same period, the number of untrained personnel joining the Regular Forces fell by 14% for the whole of the UK.

The number of untrained personnel joining the Regular Forces in the North East increased from 2019 to 2020 but has decreased each year from 2020 to 2024. From 2020 to 2024, untrained intake in the North East fell by 40%. This was a larger proportional fall of untrained personnel intake than the UK as a whole (31%).

Notes: Figures for the Army intake exclude Gurkhas. Figures may include personnel who have joined more than once during the time period

Source: MOD, Location statistics for UK regular armed forces and civilians: 2024, 11 July 2025, tables 7.1, 7.2 & 7.3

From 2024 to 2025, the intake of Armed Forces personnel increased by 19% for the UK as a whole. Figures for 2025 at a regional level have not yet been released.

In oral evidence to the Public Accounts Committee in April 2025, the Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, acknowledged the problem with recruitment and retention in the armed forces but said “it is easing”. He added that “the forecast is that it will bottom out and that we will start to rise across the whole of the armed forces in the next two to three years”.

As at 1 April 2024, there were 1,040 UK Regular Forces based in the North East.

The Strategic Defence Review 2025 and armed forces personnel

On 2 June 2025, the government published the Strategic Defence Review. The review set out that a workforce crisis had been caused by “poor recruitment and retention, shoddy accommodation, falling morale, and cultural challenges”.

The review set out that “in the current strategic and fiscal situation” the number of Regular Forces should not be reduced. However, budgetary restraints meant increasing the number of Regular Forces cannot yet be considered:

The Army must evolve its mix of Regulars and Reserves, with a minimum of 100,000 soldiers, of which 73,000 are Regular. A small uplift in Regular personnel should be considered when funding allows (accounting for the costs of equipping and training these personnel).

The review recommended defence submit ideas for “novel ways of entry” to the Defence Secretary by November 2025. Suggestions include offering shorter commitments, such as the MOD’s proposed ‘gap year’ plan, developing a series of ‘phase 0’ camps to which applicants can report within a month of expressing interest, and applying medical standards tailored to role types, to enable those with pre-existing conditions to join.

The Defence Secretary, John Healey, has said he rejects the argument that people do not want to join the army; rather, he acknowledged that the current joining process is too long and cumbersome, resulting in many potential recruits giving up. He said the government has “set new targets” and “scrapped old policies and red tape” to turn those who express an interest in joining the armed forces into actual recruits.

The armed forces provide a number of financial incentives to encourage people to join, including “golden hellos” for recruits to certain trades, and re-joining bounties for former service personnel with specific skills to re-join. The armed forces also offer bursaries to support higher education studies. The army offers a 12-month long officer internship scheme.

More information on recruitment and retention of UK Armed Forces personnel can be found in the Commons Library insight on the Strategic Defence Review 2025 and Armed forces personnel.