UK military is struggling to recruit tech experts, says report

The British military is struggling to recruit people with key technological skills, undermining the UK’s ability to fight and win on modern battlegrounds such as in Ukraine, an independent inquiry has found.

The 135-page report led by Rick Haythornthwaite, a businessman, described how “the pervasiveness of information and the pace of technological change are transforming the character of warfare” and the military’s “current approach is simply not capable of dealing with” it.

The inquiry, commissioned by the government and published on Monday, highlighted how the private sector was competing for the same set of cyber-related and technological skills.

It also said that workplace culture in broader society had changed and that the armed forces’ current “take it or leave it” approach to personnel had to become radically different if the UK was to retain its military capabilities.

The report described how below-inflation pay increases for the armed forces, poor housing, rigid career structures, lack of diversity and strains on families of serving personnel had lowered morale and caused high churn and poor recruitment, especially for skilled tech workers.

“The armed forces’ competitors . . . are chasing the same, rapidly developing skills — and they often have more money to throw at the problem,” it said.

Among the inquiry’s 66 recommendations, it said the armed forces should create pay structures that reward specific skills, allow for more flexible careers and prioritise planned housing upgrades.

The inquiry highlighted how new technology such as drones and artificial intelligence had made fighting more complex and increased the need for military agility and better management. It also cautioned about the cost of inaction.

Referring to the war in Ukraine, the report said: “As the Russians have found, it is easy to ignore problems and avoid difficult decisions in peacetime, but you will be shown up when the next fight comes.

“Will the people system at the heart of [the UK’s] military capability work when tested? Will it still have the strength, agility, skill, adaptability and resolve we have seen from the Ukrainian armed forces, or will that core prove hollow? . . . If action is not taken, we are not optimistic.”

According to Ministry of Defence surveys, 45 per cent of service personnel believe morale is “low”.

Meanwhile, women make up just 11 per cent of regular personnel and ethnic minorities about 10 per cent. Salaries and pensions account for one-quarter of the defence ministry’s roughly £50bn annual budget.

Ministers and the heads of the armed forces are keen to implement the inquiry’s recommendations, according to the defence ministry.

“Defence is competing for talent,” said Andrew Murrison, under-secretary of state for defence people. “We want good people to stay and we want to recruit the best we can. We have much to do.”

But Robert Clark, director of defence studies at the Civitas think-tank, said he was sceptical that the inquiry’s recommendations would be implemented.

He added that even if the proposals were introduced, it would do little to address root causes of dissatisfaction in the armed services, such as “awful housing” and “better opportunities as a civilian, especially for critical science, technology, engineering and mathematics professions”.

The government is expected to publish a new version of its so-called defence command paper later this month, which will lay out how it plans to reshape the military.