RAF ATM
The problems in the RAF ATM Specialisation are deep-rooted and are unlikely to be resolved by attempting to rapidly increase recruitment.
Whilst there is a financial incentive for those who wish to become a direct-entry SNCOs, nothing similar exists for those who join as an officer. I imagine many potential officers who attend AFCOs or Cranwell consider what career options are available and then decide that they would rather not put themselves through JATCC, followed by the endless training and examinations when they will be earning exactly the same as any other ground branch officer. Unsurprisingly they frequently opt for an easier career in Flt Ops, Supply, etc.
Trying to 'shoe-horn' individuals who are not really motivated into ATM is just repeating the same old failed 'solution' of once again papering over the cracks. Retention is the problem that urgently needs to be addressed if VSOs really want to find a solution, but it won't happen and we will continue to loose controllers to NATS and elsewhere.
One solution to recruiting and retention would be introducing a structured transition to a civil ATC licence. You could set the qualifying criteria at say a 12 year engagement, recovering the cost of training, whilst allowing the RAF to have the benefit of a cadre of young controllers who are motivated to stay the course. A correspondence course, with an on-line element, could be introduced to begin after 10 years service that would lead to a basic civil ATC licence, followed in the final year by an aerodrome course that would also include time at a civil ATC college. This solution would certainly act as an incentive to join and yet for personal domestic circumstances not everyone would want to leave the RAF, particularly if they wish to remain in a particular geographical area. Whilst there would be a cost, I would have thought the current wastage must be an even greater cost.
However, I am not holding my breath, as VSOs appear to place little value in the ATM specialisation in general and even less in the actual personnel. In the current climate, manning problems are only likely to get worse, not better.