Security News > 2020 > July > Capita's bespoke British Army recruiting IT cost military 25k applicants after switch-on
Capita's 2017 decision to implement bespoke IT systems on a £1.3bn British Army recruiting contract led to nearly 25,000 fewer applications to join the military in the following year, new figures have revealed.
The switching-on of bespoke Defence Recruiting System IT systems contributed to the lowest number of wannabe Army recruits signing up since 2013 as well as a drop of 22 per cent in the number of applicants.
Figures revealed [PDF] by the Ministry of Defence under Freedom of Information laws showed that in the 2017-18 recruiting year, the Army received a total of 118,950 enquiries about joining.
Capita declined to comment, while insisting that January 2019 saw the highest number of applications received by the Army for five years.
Capita chief exec Jon Lewis told MPs last year that Army clawbacks of £26m on the Recruiting Partnership Programme, of which DRS is a part, had wiped out "Close to 100 per cent of the margin on the contract".