If your child wants to leave the army and they’re not yet 18 then they can, but there are some restrictions. If your child is already 18 then it’s more difficult. Either way, this page will guide you through your options.
First six weeks
Your child has no legal right to leave in the first six weeks, but you can normally get your child home in this time IF that’s what they want/need AND they haven’t yet turned 18 AND you are persistent. The Commanding Officer (CO) has the power to make an exception to the rules.
A polite first request is often enough. If not, then you need to insist. After all, this is your child and you still have parental responsibility for them:
- Tell the CO you formally withdraw your consent to the enlistment and as a person with parental responsibility for your child, you insist that they are released from army service in the current week.
- Remind them that the Ministry of Defence has told Ofsted, despite the army’s rules, that no child aged under 18 in training will be denied the right to leave the army in the first six weeks.
- Remind them that paragraph 9.414d of Queen’s Regulations gives a Commanding Officer the power to release a soldier from service in the first six weeks if they show ‘genuine or persistent unhappiness’.
- Say that unless your child is not released without delay, you will contact your MP, the local press, and Ofsted.
The day after your message, follow up with another phone call to make sure the email has been read and action is being taken.
That should do it – the army doesn’t like to be seen to be holding under-18s in the army against their will – but if the situation doesn’t improve and would like to talk through your options, contact us.
After the first six weeks
After the first six weeks, your child’s legal right to leave begins, and release should be straightforward. This discharge window closes again after six months or on your child’s 18th birthday – whichever is later.
Leaving in the first six months
To leave during the first six months, but after the first six weeks, your child needs to give two weeks’ written notice to leave. The earliest they can do this is after the first four weeks of service (four weeks of service + two weeks notice = six weeks).
Your child shouldn’t rely on telling a corporal they want to leave – that has no legal force at all. Your child needs to give written notice, and sign it, and post or hand it in at the Commanding Officer’s office.
Your child or you can do this on the army’s own form, which you can download and print here. You don’t have to answer the question on reasons for leaving, and it’s ok to leave other boxes blank if you need to – but it does need your child’s name, number, signature, and date.
You don’t even have to use the official form – this simple letter will do.
If the Commanding Officer doesn’t acknowledge the letter, get in touch and we can suggest what to do.
Leaving after the first six months, if still aged under 18
If your child has done six months but isn’t yet 18 then they still have a right to leave the army at three months’ notice. The army usually shortens the notice period to two weeks, but they don’t have to.
Once again, your child shouldn’t rely on telling a corporal they want to leave – they need to give written notice, and sign it, and post or hand it in at the Commanding Officer’s office. This simple letter will do or you can use the army’s own form.
If the Commanding Officer insists that your child, though still under 18, no longer has a legal right of discharge (this has happened several times), then you should direct them to Queen’s Regulations, para 9.292. The relevant section is here, which can be found in this PDF of Queen’s Regs here.
If the CO still resists your child’s right to leave, we have a detailed draft letter on the regulations that you can send to them – get in touch.
After 18
Once your child has been in the army for six months and also turns 18 there is no legal right to leave the army until age 22. There are no exceptions. But you do have options – click leaving the army to work through them.
Red Book
You can also find these rules on p. 40 of the ‘Red Book’ issued to junior soldiers on the day they join up – a copy is here.
Before You Sign Up 