Capita gets tongue-lashing over army recruitment drive

Capita’s attempts to operate an army recruitment drive have faced "significant problems" and failed to hit soldier targets every year, according to a report from the National Audit Office.

Capita, which was awarded the £495m, 10-year contract for Army recruitment in 2012, has struggled to deliver on targets after its delivery of a new recruitment website four years later than planned following delays from Ministry of Defence failings and underestimations of the complexity of the task.

Since Capita has taken over recruitment, a total shortfall in new recruits has ranged from 21% to 45% each year, according to the NAO.

Even with the new website up and running the Army estimated that there were 13,000 fewer applications between November 2017 and March 2018 than in the same period the year before.

47% of candidates voluntarily dropped out of the application process in 2017/18, with a wait of as long as 321 between starting an application and beginning basic training seen as a significant factor in drop-out rates.

“We have overhauled governance on the contract and are already seeing improvements, with applications at a five-year high and a reduction in the amount of time it takes candidates to join the army. We are absolutely committed to getting this partnership right,” said a spokesman from Capita.

But the Commons Defence Committee was told in October that the Army is still low on recruits, currently employing 5,500 fewer fully trained troops than its target of 82,500.

Consequently, the NAP said that the contract with Capita will not achieve planned savings of £267m for the MoD.

Graham Jones, the Labour MP for Hyndburn and a member of the defence select committee, said the failure of the government to examine the contract before signing it had led to a “monumental waste of money”.

Capita’s shares were down 6.71% at 108.50p at 0949 GMT.