UK Armed Forces Biannual Diversity Statistics: April 2024
Published 11 July 2024
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This statistical release presents information relating to the Gender, Ethnicity, Nationality, Religion, Age and Sexual Orientation of Military Personnel employed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). This publication meets the Department’s obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty to provide information on its workforce identified by the Equality Act 2010.
Information is provided on the number of Military Personnel in (defined as the Strength), joining (Intake) and leaving (Outflow) the UK Armed Forces. Statistics are included for UK Regular Forces and Future Reserves 2020 (FR20) personnel. Further statistics can be found in the Excel tables which accompany this report.
Some of the statistics previously published in the following publications can now be found in this release:
- Diversity Dashboard (Military)
- Quarterly Personnel Report
- Annual Personnel Report
- Service Personnel Bulletin 2.01
- Annual maternity report
- UK Reserve Forces and Cadets
Key Points and Trends
Gender
| ▲11.7% |
Female representation in the UK Regular Forces as at 1 April 2024 This has increased by 0.2 percentage points compared with 1 April 2023 (11.5%) |
|---|---|
| ►15.9% |
Female representation in the Future Reserves 2020 as at 1 April 2024 This has remained consistent with 1 April 2023 (15.9%) |
| ▼11.6% |
Of total intake into the combined UK Regular Forces and the Future Reserves 2020 were female in the 12 months to 31 March 2024 This has decreased by 1.0 percentage points compared with the 12 months ending 31 March 2023 (12.6%) |
Ethnicity
| ▲11.2% |
Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) representation in the UK Regular Forces as at 1 April 2024 This has increased by 1.1 percentage points compared with 1 April 2023 (10.1%) |
|---|---|
| ▲6.4% |
Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) representation in the Future Reserves 2020 as at 1 April 2024 This has increased by 0.2 percentage points compared with 1 April 2023 (6.2%) |
| ▲15.3% |
Of total intake into the combined UK Regular Forces and the Future Reserves 2020 were ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) in the 12 months to 31 March 2024 This has increased by 6.2 percentage points compared with the 12 months ending 31 March 2023 (9.1%) |
Responsible Statistician: Tri-Service Head of Branch
Email: Analysis-Tri-Hd@mod.gov.uk
Further information/mailing list: Analysis-Tri-Service@mod.gov.uk
Background Quality Report: Background Quality Report
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Introduction
This publication contains diversity information on the Strength, Intake and Outflow of the UK Regular Forces and the Future Reserves 2020 (FR20) population, both overall and for each of the Services, including the Royal Navy/Royal Marines (RN/RM), Army and Royal Air Force (RAF). Statistics are for Trained and Untrained personnel unless otherwise stated. Ethnic origin and religion data are self-reported on the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) database. Any percentages or figures quoted within this report relate to those with a known ethnic origin, religion or nationality unless otherwise stated.
Detailed statistics and historic time series can be found in the Excel tables which accompany this report; further historic statistics will be added in due course. In the meantime, historic statistics can be found in the following archived publications:
- Monthly Personnel Report
- Quarterly Personnel Report
- Annual Personnel Report
- UK Reserve Forces and Cadets
- Service Personnel Bulletin 2.01
- Service and Civilian Bulletin 2.03
- UK Armed Forces Maternity Report
- Diversity Dashboard
- Quarterly Location Statistics
The glossary contains definitions of terminology used in this publication.
A calendar of upcoming MOD statistical releases can be found on GOV.UK
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Accredited Official Statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. These Accredited Official Statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2013. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘Accredited Official Statistics’. Accreditation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:
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Further information on the accreditation process can be found here: Accredited Official Statistics.
Once statistics have been designated as Accredited Official Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed. Further details about how this report has been developed since its confirmation as an Accredited Official Statistic can be found in the Background Quality Report.
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Background
Currently, there are no publicly declared Armed Forces recruitment targets for women and ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) beyond April 2020.
Defence remains dedicated to achieving a more diverse workforce to promote a diverse and inclusive culture, allowing everyone to reach their potential, and ensuring the Armed Forces better reflect the society they serve. Defence is undertaking a wide range of activities to increase the number of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) and Female recruits into the Armed Forces. Statistics on ethnic origin are self-declared by personnel and are as recorded on the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) database. Please see Excel tables 29 and 30 and the Ministry of Defence Outcome Delivery Plan: 2021 to 2022 for more information.
UK Regulars comprise Full time Service personnel, including Nursing Services, but excluding Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel, Gurkhas, mobilised Reservists, Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS), Locally Engaged Personnel (LEP), Non-Regular Permanent Staff (NRPS), High Readiness Reserve (HRR) and Expeditionary Forces Institute (EFI) personnel. Unless otherwise stated, includes Trained and Untrained personnel.
Intake to UK Regular Forces comprises new entrants, re-entrants, direct Trained entrants (including Professionally Qualified Officers) and Intake from the reserves. It excludes all movements within the Regular Forces; including flows from the Untrained to Trained strength, transfers between Services and flows from Ranks to Officer due to promotion.
Future Reserves 2020 includes Volunteer Reserves who are mobilised, HRR and volunteer reserve personnel serving on Additional Duties Commitment (ADC) or FTRS contracts. Sponsored Reserves who provide a more cost-effective solution than Volunteer Reserve are also included in the Army Reserve FR20. Non Regular Permanent Staff (NRPS), Expeditionary Forces Institute (EFI) and University Officer Cadets and Regular Reservists are excluded.
Intake to Future Reserves 2020 Forces comprises new entrants, Regular to Reserve transfers, Reserve re-joiners, and Reserve personnel joining from another part of the Reserves that are not included in the FR20 target population.
Female Intake
Figure 1 shows that since the 12 months ending 31 March 2016 (11.2%), the proportion of Females joining the UK Regular Forces and Future Reserve 2020 increased until the 12 months ending 31 March 2022 (13.4%). Since then it has been steadily decreasing to 11.6 per cent in the 12 months ending 31 March 2024, this is down from 12.6 per cent at the end of 12 months ending 31 March 2023.
The fall in Female Intake can be seen in all 3 services Navy/Navy Reserve, Army/Army Reserve and Royal Air Force/Royal Air Force Reserve. Female Intake into these services decreased in the latest 12 month period by 0.4, 1.1 and 1.1 percentage points respectively since the 12 months ending 3 March 2023.
Figure 1: Female Intake for the 12 months ending 31 March 2024
Ethnic minorities Intake
A total of 97.4 per cent of Intake into the UK Regular Forces and the Future Reserves 2020 combined, had a known ethnicity on Intake in the 12 months to 31 March 2024.
Figure 2 shows that since the 12 months ending 31 March 2016, the proportion of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel joining the UK Regular Forces and Future Reserves 2020 has increased by 9.6 percentage points from 5.7 per cent, to its current position at 15.3 per cent. This is an increase of 6.2 percentage points, from 9.1 per cent captured at the 12 month period ending 31 March 2023.
Figure 2: Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) Intake for the 12 months ending 31 March 2024
The recent increase in the percentage of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel joining the UK Regulars and Future Reserves 2020 is mirrored in the increase in the number of personnel joining the Armed Forces from Irish and Commonwealth countries. The change in Commonwealth Intake is due to a policy change which is explained further in Figure 3 and related paragraphs.
Figure 3 shows that in the 12 months ending 31 March 2024, ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) Intake to the UK Regular Forces from Irish and Commonwealth countries has increased by 780 personnel when compared against the same 12 month period last year ending 31 March 2023.
Figure 3: Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) intake to UK Regular Forces from Irish and Commonwealth countries for the 12 months ending 31 March 2024
In July 2013, the MOD re-imposed a five year UK residency criteria for Commonwealth citizens wishing to join the Armed Forces, having previously waived the criteria in 1998. In May 2016 a limited waiver of the residency was introduced to allow the recruitment of up 200 Commonwealth citizens per annum into skill shortage roles.
On 5 November 2018, the MOD announced that it had now removed the five-year residency criteria for up to 1,350 personnel per year. This announcement may have caused the subsequent increase in the commonwealth Intake up to 31 March 2020 (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/armed-forces-to-step-up-commonwealth-recruitment). The Army has approval to recruit soldiers from overseas with a focus on Commonwealth countries. Where appropriate these recruits are recorded under our ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) Intake statistics. In 2020, COVID-19 travel restrictions affected the ability of individuals to travel to the UK and join the Army. This has resulted in a reduction in ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) Intake when compared with the numbers achieved in recent years.
Gender
UK Regular Forces and Future Reserves 2020 Strengths
For full definitions on UK Regular Forces and Future Reserves 2020, see the glossary.
At 1 April 2024, 11.7 per cent of the UK Regular Forces were Female (16,220 personnel). Figure 4 below shows that the RAF has the greatest proportion of Female personnel in the UK Regular Forces. The nature of the roles is different in each of the Services, which is partly explained by restrictions on the historic roles available to women. It was announced these restrictions would be lifted in 2016 (see Background, Section 8.3).
In comparison, 15.9 per cent of the Future Reserves 2020 were Female (5,160 personnel), 4.2 percentage points higher than the UK Regular Forces. Figure 4 shows that the RAF continues to have the greatest Female representation in the Future Reserves 2020.
Figure 4: Proportion of Females in the UK Regular Forces and Future Reserves 2020 as at 1 April 2024
RAF had the highest proportion of Females in UK Regular Forces with 16.0 per cent followed by Naval Service with 10.9 per cent and Army at 10.4 per cent. RAF Reserve also had the highest proportion of Females in the Future Reserves 2020 with 23.6 per cent followed by Maritime Reserve at 15.7 per cent and Army Reserve at 15.0 per cent.
At 1 April 2024 there was a greater proportion of Female Officers in the Future Reserves 2020 (18.9 per cent) than the UK Regular Forces (14.7 per cent). Furthermore, Future Reserves 2020 has a higher Female representation of Officers in every Service as shown in Figure 5 below.
Figure 5: Proportion of Female Officers in the UK Regulars and Future Reserves 2020 as at 1 April 2024
1 April 2013 compared with 1 April 2024, there was an increase of 5.3 percentage points in the proportion of Female Officers in the RAF Reserves. There has been an increase in the latest 12 months, by 0.1 percentage points as at 1 April 2024. The proportion in the Army Reserves has remained consistent with 1 April 2023 at 18.2 per cent. The proportion in the Maritime Reserves has also remained consistent with 1 April 2023 at 19.1 per cent.
Figure 6: UK Regular Forces spilt by Gender and NATO Rank as at 1 April 2024
Figure 6 shows the representation of Females in the UK Regular Forces by NATO rank. Within Other Ranks, there is a similar proportion of Females across the Senior (10.4 per cent) and Junior (11.3 per cent) NATO ranks. However, within the Officers, Female representation in Junior Officer ranks is 6.7 percentage points higher than the Senior Officers.
The proportion of Female UK Regular Forces is the lowest in Senior Officer roles, at 8.1 per cent, and the highest in Junior Officer roles at 14.8 per cent.
Intake and Outflow
Intake is defined as the number of personnel joining the Strength, and Outflow is the number leaving.
UK Regular Forces
In the 12 months to 31 March 2024, 1,230 Female personnel joined the UK Regular Forces - 10.9 per cent of total intake. This has decreased by 0.8 percentage points compared with the 12 months to 31 March 2023 (11.7 per cent). Intake of Female personnel is higher for Officers (18.7 per cent), than for Other Ranks (9.9 per cent). In the 12 months to 31 March 2024, Female Intake was:
- 280 personnel (11.2 per cent) into the RN/RM
- 700 personnel (9.7 per cent) into the Army
- 250 personnel (15.8 per cent) into the RAF
Figure 7 below shows that more Females are leaving the UK Regular forces than are joining. Female personnel accounted for 9.3 per cent of all Outflow from the UK Regular Forces in the 12 months to 31 March 2024. Female netflow was negative 230 in the 12 months ending 31 March 2024.
Figure 7: Female Intake to, Outflow and Net flow from the UK Regular Forces for the 12 months ending 31 March 2024
Future Reserves 2020
In the 12 months to 31 March 2024, 530 Female personnel joined the Future Reserves 2020; this is 13.6 per cent of total Intake.
In the 12 months to 31 March 2024, Female Intake was:
- 60 personnel (10.7 per cent) into the FR20 Maritime Reserve population
- 360 personnel (12.7 per cent) into the FR20 Army Reserve population
- 110 personnel (21.1 per cent) into the FR20 RAF Reserve population
Figure 8 shows that the number of Females that joined the Future Reserves 2020 in the 12 months to 31 March 2024 was 530 personnel which is lower than the 750 Personnel who outflowed. Male Outflow was also higher than Intake in the same period.
Figure 8: Female Intake to and Outflow from the Future Reserves 2020 for the 12 months ending 31 March 2024
Ethnic Origin and Nationality
UK Regular Forces and Future Reserves 2020 Strengths
Declaration of ethnic origin is not mandatory for Armed Forces personnel. These statistics relate to personnel with a known ethnicity. At 1 April 2024, the percentage of personnel who declared an ethnicity was:
| UK Regular Forces | 99.4% |
|---|---|
| Future Reserves 2020 | 99.0% |
Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel accounted for 11.2 per cent of the UK Regular Forces (15,310 personnel), at 1 April 2024. Since 2009, Gurkha personnel have been able to transfer into the Army, and the number of Trade Trained personnel reporting a Nepalese Nationality increased from 520 as at 1 April 2012 to 880 as at 1 October 2019 and subsequently declined to 570 as at 1 April 2022. Since 1 April 2022 the number of Trade Trained personnel reporting a Nepalese Nationality has since been increasing, and is currently at 690, almost of all whom are UK Regular personnel in the Army, see Table 5a.
Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel accounted for 6.4 per cent of the Future Reserves 2020 (2,060 personnel), as at 1 April 2024.
For both the UK Regular Forces and the Future Reserves 2020, the Army and Army Reserve represent the largest parts of the UK Armed forces and have the greatest proportion of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel, accounting for approximately 80.9 per cent of all ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel.
As at 1 April 2024, 95.0 per cent of the UK Regular Forces and 98.9 per cent of the Future Reserves 2020 had a UK Nationality. The difference in Nationality between the UK Regular Forces and the Future Reserves 2020 can partially be explained by different eligibility requirements.
Figure 9: Ethnicity of UK Regular and Future Reserves 2020 Personnel as at 1 April 2024
At 1 April 2024, ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel represented:
- 3.3 per cent of Officers and 13.1 per cent of Other Ranks in the UK Regular Forces.
- 4.8 per cent of Officers and 6.9 per cent of Other Ranks in the Future Reserves 2020.
As shown in Figure 10 approximately two fifths (40.8 per cent) of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel in UK regular forces did not have UK Nationality compared to only 7.4 per cent of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel in the Future Reserves 2020.
Figure 10: Percentage of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) and White personnel with UK and Non-UK Nationalities as at 1 April 2024
Intake and Outflow
UK Regular Forces
Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel accounted for 17.9 per cent of Intake into the UK Regular Forces in the 12 months to 31 March 2024. In the 12 months ending 31 March 2024, the proportion of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel of a Non-UK Nationality joining the UK Regular Forces has increased from 36.6 per cent to 63.6 per cent against the same time period last year, which is largely explained by the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the ability of individuals to travel to the UK and join the Armed Forces.
Figure 11: Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) Intake to and Outflow from UK Regular Forces for the 12 months ending 31 March 2024
Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel represented 6.5 per cent of Outflow from the UK Regular Forces in the 12 months to 31 March 2024. Outflow has been generally increasing for ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) since the 12 months ending 30 September 2019. Prior to this, there was a decreasing trend since the 12 months ending 31 March 2014 (Figure 11).
Future Reserves 2020
Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) personnel represent 7.8 per cent of Intake in the 12 months ending 31 March 2024, this has increased by 0.6 percentage points since the 12 months ending 31 March 2023. Figure 12 shows that since the 12 months ending 31 March 2023 the proportion of Intake who are ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) into:
- The FR20 Maritime Reserve population has increased by 0.9 percentage points to 4.2 per cent
- The FR20 Army Reserve population has increased by 0.9 percentage points to 8.5 per cent
- The FR20 RAF Reserve population has decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 7.4 per cent
Army has the largest proportion of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) Intake.
Figure 12: Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) Intake to the Future Reserves 2020 by Service as at 1 April 2024
Religion
UK Regular Forces and Future Reserves 2020 Strengths
Declaration of Religion is not mandatory for Armed Forces personnel. These statistics only relate to personnel who have made a declaration. At 1 April 2024 the proportion of personnel who had made a declaration was:
| UK Regular Forces | 99.3% |
|---|---|
| Future Reserves 2020 | 98.8% |
At 1 April 2024, 55.4 per cent of the UK Regular Forces and 65.9 per cent of the Future Reserves 2020 declared a Christian religion. Both have seen a decrease in the last year of 2.0 and 1.4 percentage points respectively, which is also in line with the long term decreasing trend.
Figure 13: Religion of the UK Regular Forces and Future Reserves 2020 as at 1 April 2024
Figure 14 shows the percentage of UK Regular and Future Reserve 2020 personnel who declare “No Religion” on JPA. In the UK Regulars it has increased from 15.5 per cent as at 1 October 2012 to 39.4 per cent at 1 April 2024. Similarly, for the reserves it has increased from 17.7 per cent as at 1 October 2012 to 30.7 per cent at 1 April 2024.
Figure 14: UK Regular and Future Reserves 2020 declaring no religion as at 1 April 2024
Age
UK Regular Forces and Future Reserves 2020 Strengths
Average age statistics are calculated using the mean. Age is age at last birthday. Average ages as at 1 April 2024 were:
| Total | Officer | Other Ranks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK Regular Forces | 31 | 37 | 30 |
| Future Reserves 2020 | 39 | 44 | 37 |
As at 1 April 2024, 25.3 per cent of the UK Regular Forces and 8.5 per cent of the Future Reserves 2020 were under 25 years old. In the last year, this has decreased by 0.1 percentage points in the UK Regulars and decreased by 0.4 percentage points in the Future Reserves 2020. Of this, 6.9 per cent of the UK Regular Forces Officers and 4.6 per cent of the Future Reserves 2020 Officers were under 25 years old, Other Ranks had 29.9 per cent in the UK Regular Forces and 9.7 per cent in the Future Reserve 2020 under the age of 25.
Figure 15 below indicates that Officers in the UK Regulars are generally younger than Officers in the Future Reserves 2020. As at 1 April 2024 the average age for Officers in the UK Regular Forces was 37 years old compared to the Future Reserves 2020 where the average age was 44 years old.
Figure 16 below shows that the average age of Other Ranks in the UK Regular Forces is also younger than the Future Reserves 2020. As at 1 April 2024 the average age for the UK Regular Forces Other Ranks was 7 years younger than the Future Reserves 2020.
In the 12 months to 31 March 2024, 63.3% of those joining the Future Reserves 2020 had previously served in the UK Armed Forces (Quarterly Service Personnel Statistics, table 7b). This explains, in part, why the age profile is higher for the Future Reserves 2020.
Figure 15: Age of Officers in the UK Regular Forces and the Future Reserves 2020 as at 1 April 2024
Figure 16: Age of Other Ranks in the UK Regular Forces and the Future Reserves 2020 as at 1 April 2024
Intake and Outflow
In the 12 months ending 31 March 2024, 10.8 per cent of Intake to the UK Regular Forces were Officers (1,220 personnel). Figure 17 shows that, of this total, 7.0 per cent were aged 30 and over and the remaining 93.0 per cent were aged 18 to 29. UK Regular Officer Intake age profiles are heavily influenced by personnel joining having left higher education, with 64.2 per cent of all officer Intake occurring between ages 20 and 24. Similarly, UK Regular Other Ranks Intake is heavily influenced by those leaving secondary or tertiary education with 50.8 per cent of UK Regular Other Ranks joining under the age of 20.
In the 12 months ending 31 March 2024, 20.5 per cent of Intake to the Future Reserves 2020 were Officers (800 personnel). Figure 17 shows that, of this total, 61.7 per cent were aged 30 and over and the remaining 38.3 per cent were aged 18 to 29. Within this time period, Officers aged 20-24, have had the highest Intake and 60 and overs had the largest Outflow. There is a larger Intake of personnel in the age group of 50 and over in comparison to the UK Regular Forces, this could be explained by the different eligibility requirements between UK Regulars Forces and Future Reserves 2020.
Figure 17: UK Regulars and Future Reserves 2020 intake by Age for the 12 months ending 31 March 2024
The first point at which Regular personnel can leave voluntarily is normally after 4 years of Service for personnel aged over 18. Each Service has slightly different guidelines.
Figure 18: UK Regulars and Future Reserves 2020 outflow by Age for the 12 months ending 31 March 2024. Note that figures for the Future Reserves 2020 Other Ranks have been suppressed in-line with The MOD Disclosure Control and Rounding policy published on GOV.UK
Sexual Orientation
Declaration of sexual orientation is not mandatory for Armed Forces personnel. These statistics relate to personnel with a known Sexual Orientation. As at 1 April 2024, the percentage of personnel who declared a Sexual Orientation was:
| UK Regular Forces | 31.7% |
|---|---|
| Future Reserves 2020 | 10.0% |
UK Regular Forces
As at 1 April 2024, 31.7 per cent of Regular service personnel declared a Sexual Orientation. There were 34.8 per cent of Officers and 30.9 per cent of Other Ranks declaring a Sexual Orientation.
Figure 19 below shows a service breakdown of the overall declaration rate across the UK Regular Forces, with Army having the highest rate (38.6 per cent), followed by Royal Navy/Royal Marines and RAF at 24.5 and 22.1 per cent respectively.
Future Reserves 2020
As at 1 April 2024, 10.0 per cent of FR20 service personnel have declared a Sexual Orientation. The declaration rate is higher amongst Officers (17.7 per cent) when compared with Other Ranks (7.6 per cent).
Figure 19 shows the breakdown of the declaration rate by each service. FR20 Maritime Reserve have the highest proportion (17.8 per cent), followed by FR20 RAF Reserves and FR20 Army Reserves at 14.2 and 8.6 per cent respectively.
There is a larger difference between the declaration rates of the UK Regular Forces and the Future Reserves 2020, than is seen between the services.
Figure 19: Sexual Orientation declaration rate across UK Regular Forces and Future Reserves 2020 split by service as at 1 April 2024
Diversity statistics are reported to meet the Department’s obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty to provide information on its workforce in relation to the protected characteristics identified by the Equality Act 2010.
Background and Context
Diversity statistics are reported to meet the Department’s obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty to provide information on its workforce in relation to the protected characteristics identified by the Equality Act 2010.
MOD publicises the importance placed on the Armed Forces being appropriately representative of the diverse society they exist to defend and states that ‘operational effectiveness depends on cohesion and teamwork, which are enhanced by treating everyone fairly, with dignity and respect’.
Army Trained Strength
On 29th June 2016, the MOD announced that the Army will in future plan to use Regular and Reserve Phase 1 trained personnel in response to crises within the UK. Following this, the term ‘Trained Strength’ will include all Army personnel trained in the core function of their Service (i.e. those who have completed Phase 1 training). The MOD has consulted on these changes and the resultant impact it will have on this publication and a consultation response was published on 7 November 2016.
Army personnel who have completed Phase 1 training (basic Service training) but not Phase 2 training (trade training), are now considered Trained personnel. This change will enable the Army to meet the SDSR 15 commitment to improve support to UK resilience. The Trained Strength definition for the Royal Navy, RAF, Maritime Reserve and RAF Reserves has not changed, reflecting the requirement for their personnel to complete Phase 2 training to be able to fulfil the core function of their respective Services.
Recent changes to the structure of the UK Armed Forces
In order to meet the manpower reduction targets set out in SDSR 2010, the Three Month Exercise (3ME) and Army 2020 (A2020), a redundancy programme coupled with adjusted recruiting (intake) and contract extensions were set. The redundancy programme is now complete.
On 23 November 2015, the MOD published the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015. SDSR 2015 outlines plans to uplift the size of the Regular Armed Forces, setting targets for a strength of 82,000 for the Army, and increasing the Royal Navy/Royal Marines (RN/RM) and RAF by a total of 700 personnel. The SDSR 2015 Defence Key Facts booklet announced new targets for 2020 for each of the Services. In parallel, there have been increases in the Reserve populations; the Future Reserves 2020 (FR20) programme aims to increase the size of the Reserve Forces. Further personnel statistics and information on these changes can be found in the Quarterly Service Personnel Statistics.
Gender
The former Prime Minister announced on 8 July 2016 that the exemption on women serving in ground close combat (GCC) roles would be lifted, with roles opening up on an incremental basis starting with the Royal Armoured Corps. The decision to lift the exclusion was on the basis of equality of opportunity and maximising talent. Roles that were previously excluded to women were the Royal Marines General Service, the Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps, the Infantry and the Royal Air Force Regiment. From November 2016 women are able to join the Royal Armoured Corps, both Regular and Reserve. The RAF brought this forward and the RAF Regiment opened to women on 1 September 2017. The remaining ground close combat roles opened to women in late 2018, after additional health mitigations were put in place. There are no quotas for women joining GCC roles and applications are treated in the same way as for all other roles. Additionally, there has been no lowering of standards for women joining GCC roles. Since 2019 all roles with the Armed Forces have been open to women, with the exception of Gurkhas. The Armed Forces are exempt from elements of the employment provisions of the Equality Act 2010 for reasons of combat effectiveness.
We recognise that the terminology on this topic area is evolving. Within our official statistics data collection, the term ‘gender’ has been used interchangeably with ‘sex’. When we use the term ‘gender’, we are referring to ‘sex’ - a binary variable categorised as female or male. This is due to the JPA system architecture where this data was collected using the term gender as a substitution for sex.
Ethnic origin and Nationality
White minority ethnicities are included in the White category. This is due to the JPA system architecture where this data was collected as White (including white minorities) in previous years.
Under the SDSR 2010, one of the areas reviewed was the Commonwealth recruitment rules. The MOD reintroduced the five-years UK residency requirement for future new recruits from Commonwealth countries in July 2013. This did not affect personnel already serving, or going through the recruitment process at the time of the announcement, those from the Republic of Ireland or for the Brigade of Gurkhas.
In November 2018, MOD removed the five year UK residency requirement for Commonwealth citizens wishing to apply to join the Regular Armed Forces, increasing recruitment to up to 1,350 per annum across Defence. This five year UK residency requirement was imposed in July 2013, although a limited waiver occurred in May 2016, allowing up to 200 Commonwealth personnel to be recruited per annum to fill skill shortage roles. Similarly to the July 2013 and May 2016 changes, the November 18 change was announced via a Written Ministerial Statement (WMS). Further information on residency rules can be found in the links below:
- www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-residency-rules-for-armed-forces-recruits
- www.gov.uk/government/publications/armed-forces-arf/armed-forces-arf–2
Information on the nationality eligibility criteria for each of the Services is available at:
Further Information
Symbols
| Symbol | Description |
|---|---|
| || | discontinuity in time series |
| * | not applicable |
| .. | not available |
| - | zero |
| [c] | 5 or fewer |
| p | Provisional |
| e | Estimate |
| r | Revised |
Italic figures are used for percentages and other rates, except where otherwise indicated.
Rounding
Figures in this publication (apart from some gender statistics) have been rounded to the nearest 10, though numbers ending in a “5” have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent the systematic bias caused by always rounding numbers upwards. For example; a value of “25” would be rounded down to “20” and a value of “15” would be rounded up to “20”.
Additionally, totals and sub-totals are rounded separately and so may not equal the sums of their rounded parts. Percentages are calculated from unrounded data and presented to one decimal place.
The MOD Disclosure Control and Rounding policy is published on GOV.UK.
Revisions
Minor revisions have been made to Table 1, specifically to the percentages column as at 1 October 2022. This was due to an inputting error.
Corrections to the published statistics will be made if errors are found, or if figures change as a result of improvements to methodology or changes to definitions. When making corrections, we will follow the Ministry of Defence Statistics Revisions and Corrections Policy. All corrected figures will be identified by the symbol “r”, and an explanation will be given of the reason for and size of the revision. Corrections which would have a significant impact on the utility of the statistics will be corrected as soon as possible, by reissuing the publication. Minor errors will also be corrected, but for convenience these corrections may be timed to coincide with the next annual release of the publication.
Useful definitions
No religion includes personnel who have self-identified as having no religion on JPA, including personnel declaring themselves as Agnostic, Atheist and Secularist. This does not include personnel with an unrecorded religion.
UK Nationality includes any individuals whose nationality is recorded on the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) database as Anguilla, Bermuda, British, British Hong Kong, British Overseas Territories, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands or Turks and Caicos Islands. More details can be found on the gov.uk website.
A full glossary is available at the gov.uk website.
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Analysis (Tri-Service) welcome feedback on our statistical products. If you have any comments or questions about this publication or about our statistics in general, you can contact us as follows:
Responsible statistician: Tri-Service Head of Branch
Email: Analysis-Tri-Hd@mod.gov.uk
If you wish to correspond by mail, our postal address is:
Analysis (Tri-Service)
Ministry of Defence, Main Building
Floor 3 Zone M
Whitehall
London
SW1A 2HB
Other contact points within the Ministry of Defence for Statistics are listed below.
Defence Expenditure Analysis:
Email: DefStrat-Econ-ESES-PQFOI@mod.gov.uk
Naval Service Workforce:
Email: Analysis-Navy@mod.gov.uk
Army Workforce:
Email: defstrat-stat-army-enquiries@mod.uk
RAF Workforce:
Email: Analysis-Air@mod.uk
Tri-service Workforce:
Email: Analysis-Tri-Service@mod.gov.uk
Civilian Workforce:
Email: Analysis-Civilian-Enquires@mod.gov.uk
Health Information:
Email: Analysis-Health-PQ-FOI@mod.gov.uk
Please note that these email addresses may change later in the year.
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If you require information which is not available within this or other available publications, you may wish to submit a Request for Information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. See guidance on how to make an FOI request.
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