A “gap year” scheme to give school and college leavers a taste of the Army, Royal Navy or RAF without a long term commitment, is to be launched by the government.

The course is aimed at under-25s and is part of efforts to solve long-term recruitment and retention problems in the armed forces.

Applications to be part of the first of 150 recruits open in the spring, with plans for that number to grow to 1,000 young people a year. The programme will be paid but officials have yet to announce a salary.

Defence Secretary John Healey said the scheme would offer young people “incredible skills and training”. However the Conservatives criticised the small number of recruits.

Recruits to the “gap year” programme will not be deployed on active operations, and the content of the courses is still said to be in development.

The Army scheme would see recruits receive 13 weeks of basic training as part of a two-year placement, while the Navy scheme would last a year and provide general training for sailors, according to the i newspaper, external. The RAF scheme is less developed.

Read more: No more sending the young to fight wars the Cult has orchestrated. This is the step-by-step Totalitarian Tiptoe to full-blown conscription the moment they think they can get away with it. ‘Fuck off’ would be the appropriate response. Let Starmer go. Or Blair. Or Johnson. Or Farage. Or Trump. But they never do