Armed Forces Recruitment

Opportunity for action - recruitment of young people

Under 18 year olds in the Armed Forces

The UK armed forces continue to recruit young people at the age of 16. The UK is currently the only European country to continue to recruit at this age.

Although sixteen year olds cannot generally have contracts enforced against them; are too young to drive a car; drink in a pub or marry without their parents consent, on joining the army they commit themselves for a period of four years beyond their eighteenth birthday.

After an initial cooling off period they are not free to leave as of right and are subject to a compulsion that is unknown in any other employment or apprenticeship.

The petition was presented to Parliament in early April [PDF: 96kb] and seeks redress of the situation by encouraging the Government to raise the age of recruitment alongside the raising of the school- leaving age. 

Friends in contact with their MPs are also encouraged to ask them to sign Early Day Motion 50 [PDF: 34kb]. This too will add a momentum for political change.