To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what were the (a) recruitment targets and (b) actual numbers of people recruited to the Army in each year since 2010.
Answered on
8 January 2024
The first table below shows the Basic Training Starts (BTS) Targets for British Army Other Ranks by financial year. There are no targets for Officers.
Financial Year | BTS Target |
2010-11 | 8,350 |
2011-12 | 10,530 |
2012-13 | 9,830 |
2013-14 | 9,380 |
2014-15 | 9,370 |
2015-16 | 9,550 |
2016-17 | 10,200 |
2017-18 | 9,770 |
2018-19 | 9,990 |
2019-20 | 9,400 |
2020-21* | 9,870 |
2021-22 | 6,670 |
2022-23 | 8,220 |
*2020-21 Target was 9,870 before being supressed in-year to 8,270 because of IR measures.
The second table below shows the BTS Actuals for British Army Officers and Other Ranks by financial year.
Financial Year | Total BTS Actuals | Officer BTS Actuals | Other Ranks BTS Actuals |
2010-11 | 8,520 | 740 | 7,780 |
2011-12 | 10,890 | 690 | 10,200 |
2012-13 | 10,060 | 620 | 9,440 |
2013-14 | 6,810 | 560 | 6,250 |
2014-15 | 7,850 | 500 | 7,350 |
2015-16 | 8,100 | 550 | 7,550 |
2016-17 | 7,620 | 640 | 6,980 |
2017-18 | 6,600 | 620 | 5,990 |
2018-19 | 6,500 | 640 | 5,860 |
2019-20 | 9,580 | 630 | 8,960 |
2020-21* | 9,330 | 650 | 8,680 |
2021-22 | 7,230 | 650 | 6,580 |
2022-23 | 6,080 | 520 | 5,560 |
Please note the following notes/caveats:
- The figures are for the Regular Army only and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves, but includes those personnel that have transferred from GURTAM to UKTAP.
- Basic Training Start figures prior to and including 2016/17 include all personnel entering both Phase 1 and Phase 2 training. Following a change in definition of trained strength from 1 October 2016, all Basic Training Starts figures from 2017/18 onwards only include personnel who entered Phase 1 training. Figures from 2017/18 onwards are therefore not directly comparable with previous Financial Years.
- Figures have been rounded to 10 for presentational purposes; numbers ending in "5" have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.
- Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not appear to be the sum of their parts.