Dec 10, 2024, INews: Army to recruit soldiers with ADHD, autism and ME amid staffing crisis
The Ministry of Defence is to take on a wider range of candidates as number of troops plummet to lowest level in 200 years
The Ministry of Defence will allow young people with ADHD, autism and chronic fatigue to join the armed forces in a bid to tackle the recruitment crisis, The i Paper can reveal.
In a historic move designed to transform its intake of soldiers at a time of increasing global instability, the MoD has scrapped dozens of strict recruitment rules which meant hundreds of people a year wanting to serve were rejected.
The i Paper has obtained the full revised list in the MoD’s “joint service manual of medical fitness”, which discloses the new medical requirements for those wishing to sign up as soldiers. Those suffering from a range of certain conditions will now be considered “fit until proven unfit” compared with previously being rejected.
In October, Defence Secretary John Healey announced he was scrapping “outdated” policies in a bid to tackle the recruitment crisis engulfing the military and ending medical policies “unnecessary” blocking some sufferers of hay fever, eczema, and acne.
But the complete list of medical changes goes far wider. As well as relaxing rules for recruits suffering from a range of mental health issues, recruits with a history of alcohol and drug misuse, high blood pressure and back pain will now no longer be automatically rejected. Other rules governing those who’ve previously had broken bones, gastric bands and suffer migraines or hypertension have also been loosened.
According to the government, the British Army is the smallest it has been in 200 years, with more people leaving service than signing up. It is estimated that some hundreds of recruits are turned away each year due to a psychiatric condition.
MoD data released earlier this year show that UK troop numbers have plummeted to the lowest levels since the early 1800s after a 38 per cent decline in recruits, with numbers in the army, navy and air force having dropped from 207,000 in 2000 to 131,000 in 2024.
During the past five years, 125,000 recruits have been rejected from the army.
Liberalising rules on ADHD and autism have been subject to campaigns from those inside the military and many recruits have been turned away from the forces due to issues relating to their mental health. It is estimated that there are up to 1.2 million autistic people and 2.2 million with ADHD in England.
Lord Dannatt, the former head of the Army, said he supported the changes: “I am in favour of loosening the criteria and allowing a wider group of recruit to join the Armed Forces. The other side of the coin is that we must expect a higher drop out rate during basic training.
“On balance, it is better to give people a chance rather than just deny the opportunity on medical grounds.”
One defence insider with knowledge of the armed forces recruitment policies said the growth in access to mental health care meant that applicants who would have been accepted in years past were being rejected as a diagnosis will be flagged in their NHS records.
They said: “If you look at units during the 80s and 90s, a lot of these soldiers clearly had some sort of mental health issue. But at the time, diagnoses were a lot less common so it did not show up in recruitment. You can be a perfectly good soldier with autism or ADHD, but the checks are time-consuming and strenuous, so we don’t recruit as many people as we should”. . . .
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.
In January, Capita – which currently runs the recruitment contract for the British Army – raised the issue at the House of Commons Defence Select Committee. Chief executive Richard Holroyd said many in the current English Rugby team would be ineligible for military service due to their BMI. . . .
The new Head of the British Army Gen Sir Roland Walker said British troops must be in fighting shape by 2027, in what he described as an “increasingly volatile” world. Central to this was doubling the Army’s fighting power by 2027 and tripling it by the end of the decade, he said. . . .
Changes to armed forces recruitment code
● ADHD – Potential recruits with ADHD are set to have restrictions loosened, being presumed fit dependent on other criteria.
● Autism – People with autism are presumed fit if their diagnosis has had no significant impact on their academic, occupational or social function.
● Chronic fatigue – Those with chronic fatigue illnesses such as ME, long-COVID, or post-viral fatigue syndrome are now declared fit depending on there being no ongoing symptoms and the illness not lasting for more than a year.
● Drug and alcohol misuse – Those who have misused drugs and alcohol are now presumed fit if they have been clean for at least three years.
● Gastric band – If you have had a gastric band removed, you are now eligible to join the military.
● Migraines – Candidates with a history of having migraines are now declared fit, as long as they haven’t had more than two, required prescribed medication, or had one severe enough to require time off work in two years.
● Back pain – Candidates with back pain previously faced tough entry requirements, however these have been loosened.
● Hypertension – Some potential recruits with pre-high blood pressure are now declared fit subject to certain criteria.
● Acne – Recruits who have required treatment for acne will see the wait time following the completion of some treatments cut from eight to four weeks, and all those with resolved acne are now presumed fit.
● Eczema – Candidates with mild or no current eczema are now deemed as fit
● Haemorrhoids – Candidates who are now asymptomatic are now treated as fit.
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