Recruitment into the Royal Fleet Auxiliary is increasing and applications have reached their highest level in five years, with the service’s overall strength stabilising and voluntary outflow reducing between January 2025 and January 2026, the Ministry of Defence has said.
The assessment came in a written parliamentary answer from defence minister Calvin Bailey on 3 July, responding to a question from Kim Johnson, the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, on progress in recruiting and retaining civilian seafarers since July 2024.
The RFA is the civilian-crewed fleet that sustains the Royal Navy at sea, operating the tankers, solid support and amphibious ships that supply warships with fuel, ammunition, food and stores on deployment. Its seafarers are civil servants employed under merchant navy terms rather than service personnel, which places the organisation in direct competition with the commercial shipping industry for qualified officers and ratings. Crewing shortages in recent years have had visible consequences for the fleet, contributing to vessels being laid up or placed at reduced readiness, and the workforce took industrial action over pay in 2023 and 2024, the first strikes in the RFA’s history.
Bailey acknowledged the scale of the problem in his answer. “The RFA has faced sustained recruitment and retention challenges in recent years, driven in part by competition with the commercial maritime sector and differences in terms and conditions of service,” the minister said. In response, the department has implemented a workforce recovery programme, supported by engagement with maritime trade unions and wider work to improve the employee offer, including pay, conditions and flexibility.
According to the minister, delivery against training pipelines has also strengthened, with Officer Cadet and Apprenticeship intakes filled to high proportions of target in 2025-26. The department keeps recruitment and retention under close review through ongoing workforce analysis and engagement with the unions.
“While challenges remain, these improvements suggest that measures taken since 2024 are beginning to have a positive effect on recruitment and retention outcomes within the RFA,” Bailey said, adding that the department continues to work with maritime trade unions and RFA members to address their concerns over pay and terms and conditions of service.
The answer did not provide figures for the RFA’s current strength or the size of the improvement in outflow. The service’s workforce numbers are published periodically in MOD civilian personnel statistics, which have in recent years recorded a sustained decline in trained strength from the levels of the early 2010s.
With no raw or even real statistics and figures provided this is has to be currently seen as PR spin.