The Reserve Forces Act 1996 (c. 14) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that provides for the maintenance and composition of the reserve forces of the Crown.

The Reserve Forces comprise: The Royal Fleet Reserve, the Army Reserve, and the Air Force Reserve are the Regular Reserve forces, comprising men and women who previously served in the regular forces and are liable for recall to active duty as reservists.

The Royal Naval Reserve, the Territorial Army, and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force are the Volunteer Reserve forces, comprising men and women who are members of the volunteer forces and liable to be called for active duty.

In addition the Act allows for the use of Sponsored Reserves whose employer enters into a contract with the Ministry of Defence to provide personnel to carry out specialist tasks as part of the armed forces.

Examples are the Mobile Meteorological Unit, some of the staff on Royal Air Force transport aircraft (non flight crew) and some fleet container transport ships.