Young people in Britain will soon be offered the opportunity to take a “gap year” through a new paid program in the armed forces, the government announced on Saturday.
The Armed Forces Foundation scheme, scheduled to begin in March 2026, aims to recruit around 150 people initially to experience military life without requiring long-term service.
The program gives participants the opportunity to train and serve in the Army, Royal Navy or Royal Air Force for a year. Officials hope to expand the scheme to more than 1,000 young people “if there is interest,” the government said in a statement.
Defense Secretary John Healey said the plan marked a “new era for national defense”, adding that it would open up opportunities for young people to experience the skills and training the military provides.
This program is aimed at school dropouts and young people under the age of 25 who may be unsure of their future career path. Participants will be paid a salary and given the opportunity to experience real life in the military, including basic training and deployments that include working at sea and with specialist units. Participants in the proposed gap year program would not be sent on active operations.
Officials said details of the training curriculum are still being finalized. Salaries have not been announced, but basic new employees typically receive a starting salary of around £26,000.
The government says the scheme will focus on developing transferable skills that will also be valued in the civilian workforce, such as logistics, engineering and supply chain management. This also includes bespoke training designed to build skills such as “problem solving, teamwork and leadership”.
The UK government said the announcement followed a “rallying cry” from the head of the armed forces, Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton, who called for a “whole-of-nation response to an increasingly volatile and uncertain world”.
The government also noted that the work was undertaken as part of a broader push for a “whole of society” approach to defence, a “central theme” of this year’s Strategic Defense Review.
The program draws inspiration from the Australian Defense Force’s long-running ADF Gap Year program, which has been in operation for over 10 years. Similar initiatives have been introduced elsewhere in Europe, with countries such as France and Germany recently launching programs aimed at increasing voluntary national service among young people.
