MOD issued recruitment warning as D&I targets spark concerns

The Ministry of Defence should focus on merit alone, rather than on meeting diversity targets, according to the Shadow Defence Secretary. James Cartlidge made the claims as it emerged that a new recruitment contract handed to Serco and scheduled to commence in 2027 included "annual mandated performance indicators focused on enhancing equality and diversity within the workforce."

The armed forces have come under fire in recent years for efforts to boost diversity that have been found to discriminate against some from white, British backgrounds. Cartlidge told the Daily Express: "Recruitment into the Armed Forces should be based solely on merit. With these diversity targets being imposed, the risk is a repeat of what happened with the RAF.

"Instead of us getting the best people, we will get people who simply tick boxes.

"We should be scrapping all this tokenism. We should be promoting and recruiting on the basis of merit alone - that's how you get a stronger armed forces."

The RAF has previously come under fire after a "woke" recruitment practice left the service with a shortage of pilots.

The recruitment directive saw an email sent to senior leaders telling them to stop choosing "useless white male pilots" in an attempt to improve diversity but was found to be unlawful in 2023.

In the wake of the scandal, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton was forced to apologise following an inquiry into bias which left the air force in need of a "higher number of pilots in training", forcing them to reach out to applicants that had previously been rejected.

The Minister for the Armed Forces Luke Pollard confirmed the existence of diversity targets within the new contract, which he said helped the military create "a more inclusive workplace" that would be capable of "attracting and retaining the best talent from across society."

He said: "Under the Armed Forces Recruiting Service contract, Serco, as the supplier, is required to comply with the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) Diversity and Inclusion policy."

Serco will take responsibility for all military recruitment from 2027 after agreeing a £1.5 billion deal earlier this year. It will be the first time that recruiting for all three services has been outsourced.

Previously, recruiting giant Capita was responsible for attracting new recruits into the British Army, but it met its annual target just twice in the 12 years it ran the contract.

An MOD spokesperson said: "This Government inherited a recruitment crisis with 14 years of missed targets. We're fixing it by speeding up recruitment processes, scrapping outdated policies, and providing personnel with the largest pay rise in decades.

"The priority for the new Armed Forces Recruitment Service is to fix this recruitment crisis and all recruitment will be done fairly, with no one being prioritised based on their background."