Sandhurst ‘lowers its requirements’ to spice up officer recruitment
- The shock transfer was decried by senior defence sources final evening
Officer candidates who failed a part of the Army’s rigorous choice process are nonetheless being accepted for coaching, the Mail can reveal.
Due to an unprecedented recruitment disaster, the distinguished Royal Military Academy Sandhurst has lowered its entry requirements and – for the primary time – candidates who didn’t make the grade on the Army Officer Selection Board have been taken on.
The shock transfer, decried by senior defence sources final evening, comes amid deepening considerations concerning the dimension of the Army and its combating functionality.
Under present plans, the Army will probably be diminished to simply 73,000 full-time troopers by 2025, with additional cuts anticipated. There can be a £17billion shortfall in defence funding, based on the National Audit Office.
Officer candidates who failed a part of the Army’s rigorous choice process are nonetheless being accepted for coaching, the Mail can reveal (File Photo)
Colonel Hamish de-Bretton Gordon (pictured), a former AOSB teacher who additionally commanded the Army’s chemical warfare regiment, mentioned: ‘For generations British Army officers have been considered the perfect on the earth’
Before this autumn, candidates needed to move the Army Officer Selection Board earlier than attending Sandhurst. It consists of rigorous management and planning duties, psychometric checks and interviews over 4 days.
Colonel Hamish de-Bretton Gordon, a former AOSB teacher who additionally commanded the Army’s chemical warfare regiment, mentioned: ‘For generations British Army officers have been considered the perfect on the earth.
‘Those generations have all needed to move AOSB. In my time I gauged only a few failed who ought to have handed and vice-versa. Reducing requirements, nonetheless glorious Sandhurst is, is a retrograde step to extend numbers.
‘MoD ought to deal with lowering the administration blockages that imply it takes ridiculously lengthy for candidates to get there and overview medical requirements which exclude completely succesful people.’
Before this autumn, candidates needed to move the Army Officer Selection Board earlier than attending Sandhurst. It consists of rigorous management and planning duties, psychometric checks and interviews over 4 days
Last evening the Army confirmed that passing AOSB was not a stipulation for entry to Sandhurst.
It mentioned its ‘evaluation methodology’ had been reviewed, to incorporate a ‘larger emphasis on a candidate’s capability to develop even, in the event that they narrowly missed out on passing AOSB underneath the earlier standards’.
‘This helps us maximise the potential of all aspiring officers and has no affect on the usual required to fee into the British Army from RMAS.’
The Army has additionally scrapped a 12-week preparation course for candidates who solely simply made the grade at AOSB. They are to proceed on to Sandhurst.
Privately, senior officers conceded the present recruiting surroundings is ‘difficult’.
In 2012 the MoD awarded a £495million ten-year contract for military recruitment to Capita. Despite failing to satisfy targets, the Capita deal was prolonged till subsequent 12 months, for an additional £140million. MPs on the Public Accounts Committee referred to as Capita’s efficiency ‘abysmal’.
