Official Statistics

Annual location statistics: 1 April 2025

Published 10 July 2025

This statistical release presents figures on the national and international locations of all UK Regular Forces personnel and MOD Civilian personnel as at 1 April 2025, and the intake by Parliamentary Constituency into the UK Regular Forces as at 1 April 2025.

The strength by location tables present information on the stationed location of all UK Regular service and Civilian personnel by UK Unitary Authority and Local Authority Area, as well as global locations. Data are presented for each Service by Officer/Other Ranks breakdown, and for Civilian personnel by non industrial/industrial breakdown (including Executive Agencies and Locally Engaged Civilians).

The Intake tables present information on Intake into the UK Regular Forces by Parliamentary Constituency.

Key Points and Trends

▼131,280	Strength of UK Regular Forces in UK as at 1 April 2025 a decrease of 1,080 compared with 1 April 2024
▼5,620	Strength of UK Regular Forces overseas as at 1 April 2025 a decrease of 80 compared with 1 April 2024
▼53,400	Strength of MOD Civilian personnel in UK as at 1 April 2025 an decrease of 1,880 compared with 1 April 2024
▼4,500	Strength of MOD Civilian personnel located overseas as at 1 April 2025 a decrease of 20 compared with 1 April 2024
▲570	Strength of UK Regular Forces in Germany as at 1 April 2025 an increase of 50 compared with 1 April 2024
▼37,410	Largest UK Region concentration of UK Regular Forces is in South East UK as at 1 April 2025 a decrease of 80 compared with 1 April 2024
▼22,460	Largest UK region concentration of MOD Civilian personnel is in South West UK as at 1 April 2025 an decrease of 750 compared with 1 April 2024

Responsible Statistician: Tri-Service Head of Branch

Telephone: 020 7807 8896

Email: Analysis-Tri-Hd@mod.gov.uk

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Introduction

This statistical release presents figures on the National and International locations of all UK Regular Forces personnel and MOD Civilian personnel, and the Intake into the UK Regular Forces by Parliamentary Constituency.

The basing of the UK Forces changed when the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 (SDSR) outlined a number of recommendations to transform the UK Forces in order to face new threats. These recommendations aimed to restructure the UK Armed Forces and rationalise the Defence estate. This instigated a number of more detailed plans including the Regular Army Basing Plan. A number of modifications were made to the structure and way each of the Services operated, with a focus on creation of a versatile Force. The modifications included the decisions to reconfigure the Army by reducing it from six to five multi-role brigades. The Royal Air Force (RAF) structure was focused around fewer Fast Jet platforms with increasing numbers of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and an improved strategic Air Transport Fleet. Additionally, the British Forces personnel previously based in Germany have been relocated back in the UK. These changes came into effect by 2020 and consequently impacted on basing both overseas and in the UK. Previous versions of this publication reported the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, released in November 2015. Prior to SDSR 2015, this publication reported the planned Future Force 2020, as set out in the SDSR 2010 which planned to reduce the size of the Armed Forces.

To provide a more solid overseas foundation for HM forces, the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy (IR) presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister in 2021, seeks to invest in overseas strategic hubs in Oman, Singapore and Kenya in addition to the facilities and infrastructure in Cyprus, Gibraltar and Germany. The IR also seeks to expand the global network of British Defence Staffs, increasing it by nearly a third. This will see a fairly significant change in the basing of personnel overseas. This will be reported in future publications.

Furthermore, the 2025 SDR made clear that the MOD provide service personnel with flexible-working arrangements in order to improve retention. The department has committed to aiding service personnel with flexible-working policies that support personnel and their families with greater stability in their location and help with home ownership. The 2025 SDR also reasserted the department’s commitment to defending UK sovereign territory including Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, and defending Diego Garcia as a result of the government’s deal with Mauritius.

As at 1 April 2025, the government is in the process of handing over the Chagos Islands (reported as British Indian Ocean Territory). Once the deal has been ratified, we will report this as Mauritian territory.

UK Regular Forces

Armed Forces figures are for UK Regular Forces (including both Trained and Untrained personnel), and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service personnel and mobilised reservists. Royal Navy / Royal Marines personnel on sea service are included against the local authority containing the home port of their ship. RAF Other Ranks serving in the South Atlantic are shown against the location containing their home base.

MOD Civilian personnel

Civilian figures are reported as Full Time Equivalent (FTE). FTE is a measure of the size of the workforce taking into account that some people work part-time. Part-time staff are counted according to the number of hours they work per week as a proportion of normal hours for their grade and location.

Other bulletins in this series can be found on the .gov.uk website.

UK Regular Forces by Region

The majority of Service personnel are located in the South East and South West of the UK with 37,410 and 34,820 personnel, respectively. The fewest personnel are located in the North East with 940 personnel. The largest decrease between 1 April 2024 and 1 April 2025 was in London with a decrease of 510 (12.8 per cent). The largest increase in personnel was in the North West with an increase of 460 (50.9 per cent).

A time series of United Kingdom Regular strengths can be found in the accompanying tables.

Strength: the number of UK Regular Forces personnel.

Stationed Location: location in which personnel work; this is not necessarily where personnel live.

MOD Civilian Personnel by Region

The majority of MOD Civilians are located in the South West and South East of the UK with 22,460 and 9,610 civilians, respectively. The fewest civilians are located in the North East with 190 civilians. The largest decrease between 1 April 2024 and 1 April 2025 was in the South West with a decrease of 750 (3.2 per cent). There were no increases in civilian personnel in any region across the UK.

A time series of United Kingdom Civilian strengths can be found in the accompanying tables.

Strength: the number of MOD Civilian personnel.

Stationed Location: location in which personnel work; this is not necessarily where personnel live.

Worldwide Strengths

The strength of UK Regular Forces stationed overseas decreased from 5,700 to 5,620 (1.4 per cent) between 1 April 2024 and 1 April 2025. Over the same period, the number of MOD Civilian personnel based overseas decreased from 4,520 to 4,500 (0.4 per cent).

A time series of world wide strengths can be found in the accompanying tables.

Germany Drawdown

SDSR 2010 announced that while the presence of the British military in Germany has played an important role in demonstrating Alliance solidarity, there was no longer any operational requirement for UK forces to be based there, so the aim was to withdraw forces from Germany by 2020.

The Germany drawdown was aimed at seeing half of the approximate 20,000 personnel relocated by 2015 and the remainder by 2020, with the exclusion of approximately 200 Army, RN and RAF personnel who were to remain in Exchange and Liaison posts. This ended UK military basing in Germany. The greatest impact was in the Army, who, as at 1 April 2010, accounted for 98.4 per cent of the personnel stationed in Germany.

Strength Change

The strength declined from 19,100 as at 1 April 2010 to 450 as at 1 April 2021, a decrease of 18,650. The strength has increased to 570 as at 1 April 2025. These are Exchange and Liaison posts.

Intake by Parliamentary Constituency

In the latest available financial year (12 months ending 31 March 2025), for the Royal Navy/Royal Marines, the region with the largest intake was the South West with 510 personnel joining, while the Parliamentary Constituency with the largest intake was Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport with 40 personnel joining.

For the Army, the region with the largest intake was South East with 980 personnel while the Parliamentary Constituency with the largest intake was East Wiltshire with 50 personnel.

For the RAF, the regions with the largest intake were the East Midlands and South East with 260 personnel each joining, while the Parliamentary Constituency with the largest intake was Sleaford and North Hykeham with 20 personnel joining.

Unitary and Local Authority Changes

The restructuring of Defence and the Defence Estate is affecting both Regular and Civilian distribution across Unitary and Local Authorities in the UK.

Northern Ireland

There has been a change in structure of Northern Ireland Districts with some Districts grouped together during the 2015-16 financial year.

England

There was a change in Local Authority name in April 2018 from Shepway to Folkestone and Hythe.

In April 2023, structural changes to Local Authorities were made and four new Unitary Authorities were created:

• Cumberland Council was formed from a merger of Allerdale Borough Council, Carlisle City Council and Copeland Borough Council.
• Westmorland and Furness Council was formed from a merger of Barrow Borough Council, Eden District Council, South Lakeland District Council. Both Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council have replaced Cumbria County Council.
• North Yorkshire Council was formed from a merger of North Yorkshire Council with Craven District Council, Hambleton District Council, Harrogate Borough Council, Scarborough Borough Council, Selby District Council, Richmondshire District Council and Ryedale District Council.
• Somerset Council was formed from a merger of Mendip District Council, Sedgemoor District Council, Somerset West and Taunton Council, and South Somerset District Council.

MOD Executive Agencies

The Executive Agencies total as at 1 April 2025 was 18,880. Executive Agencies comprise the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO), Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), and the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA). As at 1 April 2024, the Defence Electronics and Components Agency (DECA) is now part of DE&S.

There was a large reduction in Executive Agency strength between 1 January 2015 and 1 April 2015. This was driven by the privatisation of Defence Support Group and the transfer of 2,000 personnel as at 1 April 2015. Approximately 450 personnel were retained with the Department as the Defence Electronic Components Agency (DECA), which was then within Head Office and Corporate Services.

Data Sources and Notes

UK Regular Forces

UK Regular Forces data are sourced from the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system. Location data are based on the stationed location of the individual as recorded in the ‘Assignment Location’ field of the JPA system. The figures are based on Service personnel’s stationed location and not their location of residence - where personnel work isn’t necessarily where they live. Personnel deployed on operations to an area away from their stationed location are shown against their most recent stationed location.

Following a request in Defence Orals in April 2020, data on the Parliamentary Constituency of recruits (intake) is now included in these statistics, beginning with the April 2021 release. For all three services, data pre-March 2022 was held on the Defence Recruitment System (DRS). Post-March 2022, data for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force has been held on the Recruitment IT System (RITS).

MOD Civilians

MOD civilian data are compiled from several sources:

Core MOD personnel

Data for core MOD personnel are taken from the personnel system - MyHR. Analysis Tri-Service use budgetary UINs and attribute people according to the budgetary area that pays them, using the Standing Data System hierarchy from Financial Management Information Systems.

Executive Agencies

Executive Agencies were introduced by the Government under the Trading Funds Act 1973 as a ‘means of financing trading operations of a government department which, hitherto, have been carried out on Vote’. They are self-accounting units that have greater freedom than other government departments in managing their own financial and management activities. Currently the MOD has four Trading Funds - Defence Electronics and Components Agency (DECA), United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO), Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and the Defence Nuclear Organisation (DNO). Until 1 October 2011, the Met Office also was reported on by the MOD, but as of 1 October 2011 their responsibility transferred to the Department for Business, Energy, & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Defence Support Group (DSG) was privatised as at 1 April 2015, with approximately 2,000 posts transferring to Babcock. Approximately 450 personnel were retained with the Department as the Defence Electronic Components Agency (DECA), which was then within Head Office and Corporate Services.

Locally engaged civilians (LEC)

LEC employees are recruited overseas exclusively for employment in support of the UK Armed Forces deployed in a particular overseas theatre, on terms and conditions of service applicable only to that overseas theatre or Administration.

Previously this has included the dependents of UK military personnel or UK-based civilian staff employed in overseas theatre (who are sometimes separately identified as UK Dependents). However, to reflect the different terms and conditions of these personnel, UK dependents are not included in LEC figures from October 2013. LECs are not civil servants. LEC data are provided by Top Level Budgetary areas quarterly to Analysis Tri-Service requirements. LEC FTE strengths are based on the actual FTE of part-time LECs where available, and the FTE for those part-time personnel where actual values remain unavailable are estimated with the mean FTE of part-time LECs, increasing the accuracy of LEC FTE.

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA)

The RFA is a civilian organisation that operates globally to support vital logistics and operations for the Royal Navy and other Services. As they are based offshore, location is not provided.

Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S)

DE&S changed status as at 1 April 2015 and was reclassified as a Bespoke Trading Entity, reported under the title DES Bespoke Trading Entity, and will be reported in the same format as current Trading Funds. For the purposes of the ALS report, it has been reported in Industrial and Non Industrial Civilian figures to allow comparable analysis of DE&S across the SDSR periods on a consistent basis.

Further Information

Symbols

Symbol	Description
||	discontinuity in time series
*	not applicable
..	not available
0	zero
[c]	5 or fewer
p	Provisional
e	Estimate
r	Revised

Rounding

When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in “5” have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent the systematic bias of always rounding up to the nearest 10.

Where rounding has been used, totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sums of their rounded parts.

Revisions

There are no revisions for this edition of the ALS.

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