Reserve Forces: Recruitment
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) recruitment target for and (b) actual number of people recruited into the (i) Army Reserves, (ii) Maritime Reserves and (iii) RAF Reserves was by constituency in each year since 2020.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones
I am grateful for the contribution of our Reserve Forces who provide the UK with the ability to meet the threats we face at home and overseas, with the scale, skills, agility and connection to society that it needs, in a cost-effective way.
Information on the average time to process applications to join the Reserves by Service and year, and the number of people recruited by constituency is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The single Services do not set recruitment targets by constituency.
Information on the number of applications to the Volunteer Reserves is provided in the following table:
Applications to the Volunteer Reserves, broken down by Service, From 1 April 2020 - 31 March 2025 (12 months ending each 31 March)
Service |
| ||||
2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
Naval | 2,832 | 2,393 | 2,315 | 2,715 | 3,024 |
Army | 29,273 | 23,409 | 18,271 | 24,665 | 31,454 |
Royal Air Force | 4,908 | N/A | 3,978 | 4,257 | 5,297 |
Source: Quarterly Service Personnel Statistics 1st July 2025
Note:
- Naval figures for the period ending 31 March 2025 are provisional. There is a break in the time series for the Naval Service following the period ending 31 March 2024 due to a methodology refinement.
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