Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the regular personnel in the Armed Forces are medically downgraded.

At 1 July 2026, of the 127,063 UK full-time trade trained Armed Forces personnel, 28,610 (22.5%) were medically downgraded.

15,075 (11.9%) were graded Medically Limited Deployable (MLD). Personnel with a grade of MLD are medically fit for duty with minor employment limitations. A grade of MLD requires a medical risk assessment to be carried out for deployment. The decision on that deployment will depend on the medical condition, individual function, the proposed employment, length of the deployment and the medical support available.

13,535 (10.7%) were graded Medically Not Deployable (MND). Whilst personnel graded as Medically Not Deployable are not fit to deploy on Operations, they may be deployable on UK based exercises and should be able to work effectively for at least 32.5 hours per week. Personnel graded Medically Non-Deployable may require continued medical care, long term medication and access to secondary care facilities.

This response presents Medical Deployability Standard (MDS) for full-time trained personnel as regular untrained personnel cannot deploy.