More than 13,000 soldiers, sailors and air crew aren’t fit to go to war as they are “not medically deployable”, figures from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have shown.
The revelation comes amid growing concern over the size of the UK’s military in the face of the threat from Russia.
Government figures show the British Army is the smallest it has been in 200 years, with the MoD loosening recruitment criteria in a bid to boost numbers.
Armed forces health criteria
To join the army, applicants need to be physically fit and aged between 16 and 36.
Those wishing to join the Royal Navy must be aged 16 to 39, depending on the role they choose, while you must be aged between 16 and 54 to join the RAF, depending on your role.
People with heart problems or back problems, hearing or vision problems, are among those who would struggle to pass the army’s strict recruitment process.
Other health problems that could harm an applicant’s chances include sickle cell disease, knee injuries, poor dental hygiene, deafness, and anxiety or depression.
Food allergies or being an organ transplant recipient may also stop someone from joining, while if someone is pregnant or has given birth in the previous three months, they will also be delayed.
Earlier this year, Defence Secretary John Healey said people with asthma or severe acne will no longer be banned from joining the armed forces as he aimed to abandon “outdated” policies that had led to a recruitment crisis in the military.
Applicants to the armed forces must be a UK or Ireland national, a Commonwealth citizen applying from inside their own country (age 18) or as a resident of the UK (age 16).
Dual British nationals who are not required to complete national service or a British national living abroad can also apply.
Nepalese Gurkha soldiers serve under special and unique arrangements and remain citizens of Nepal during their service in the Brigade of Gurkhas.
Fifth of Armed Forces can’t fight
According to Veterans Minister Al Carns, more than 13,000 members of the armed forces are not medically fit to go to war.
Another 14,350 personnel can only be deployed if the mission meets certain conditions, meaning around a fifth of the armed forces can’t be relied upon to fight.
In a written answer to a Commons question, Mr Carns disclosed that across the military 14,350 personnel are deemed medically limited deployable, while 13,522 are medically not deployable.
Limited deployability means deployment is limited owing to a medical condition, exposure to extreme weather or the need to avoid noise or chemicals,
The Royal Navy has 2,922 members that are medically not deployable, the army 6,879 and the RAF 3,721.
Across the various branches of the armed forces, 99,560 are medically fully deployable, according to figures suppled by Mr Carns.
An MoD spokesperson said around 90 per cent of the armed forecs are deployable at any point, with most of the remaining members employed in wider military roles.
“We are committed to providing world-class medical treatment to ensure personnel can return to duty where possible, or to support their transition to civilian life,” the spokesperson said.
Lack of dental check-ups
Service personnel with medical conditions or fitness issues which impact their readiness will generally be referred to a medical board for a medical examination and review of their medical grading.
They may be downgraded, to allow for treatment, recovery and rehabilitation and deployability status can be awarded on a temporary or permanent basis.
Some personnel may have medical limitations that restrict the type or location of operation they can be deployed on.
But former armed forces minister James Heappey said he believes that a “good chunk” of the more than 10,000 personnel who are medically unfit to be deployed are down to not having had a dental check-up.
The army veteran and ex-Tory MP said: “What that tends to mean is that they’ve not had a dental check-up in the last six months, and so they are automatically declared dentally unfit, and therefore not fully deployable.
“Secondly, there is a reality about the nature of some of these injuries that mean that they couldn’t deploy to go on a discretionary operation today in peacetime.
“But if war was to come, then they would be absolutely able to go and fight, because the needs of the nation would rather trump that rather discretionary take on their medical capacity.”
Recruitment crisis
MoD statistics from April 2024 showed the Army fell below its target size for the first time since it was set, meaning all three service branches are below target.
The Army now has more than 71,000 soldiers, its lowest level since the early 1800s, with Defence Secretary John Healey warning that the size of the army is set to shrink further next year to below 70,000.
Currently, the Army is down by one per cent from its target figure, the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines by five per cent and the RAF by 10 per cent.
Overall, the UK armed forces were 5,440 personnel (1 per cent) below target, with overall numbers in the army, navy and air force having plunged from 207,000 in 2000 to 131,000 in 2024.
Mr Carns has warned that the entire British Army would be killed or wounded within six months to a year if it went to war with Russia.
MoD scraps ADHD and autism criteria
This month, The i Paper revealed that the Ministry of Defence would allow ADHD, autistic, and chronic fatigue recruits to join the armed forces.
Dozens of strict recruitment rules barring hundreds of people a year from serving have been ripped up in a bid to tackle a shortage of soldiers.
Those suffering from a range of certain conditions will now be considered “fit until proven unfit” compared with previously being rejected.
Under the changes, recruits with a history of alcohol and drug misuse, high blood pressure and back pain will no longer be automatically rejected.
Rules on broken bones, gastric bands and migraines or hypertension have also been loosened.
A defence insider with knowledge of the armed forces recruitment policies said the growth in access to mental health care meant applicants who would have been accepted in years past were being rejected as a diagnosis will be flagged in their NHS records.
Medical records hold-up
Slow speeds at obtaining medical records from GP practices can set some applications back months, during which time some applicants pull out or begin other careers.
It is estimated that the onboarding process for the Army takes between 200 to 400 days, with half of applicants waiting an average of 321 days to join and 47 per cent of applicants voluntarily drop out of the process.
However, some insiders believe the new rules do not go far enough. For example, no changes have been made to requirements for recruits to have a Body Mass Index (BMI) within a certain range.
BMI has been labelled an outdated measure in recent years, as it does not account for muscle mass. In the past five years, 282 recruits were rejected for having too high a BMI.
