F e d e r a t i o n N e w s
Federation Delivering the Federation’s Core Mission
NEWS T
he Federation has a core mission to deliver evidence-based reports on family-related concerns to those
who can make a difference.
Whilst helping solve problems and signposting to experts is a natural bi-product of an organisation such as this, the Federation is neither resourced nor qualified to act as a welfare service.
But, of course, problems and issues deliver evidence so there is a happy medium somewhere in the midst of this work that enables the Federation to deliver its core task. We thought it might be useful to illustrate how we escalate the evidence you give us with two cases, where problems highlighted to us, have been used to influence policy debate at a high level, either at MoD or in other Government departments.
‘I Divorced my Wife, Not my Children’… “I divorced my wife not my children, but was told by the Station staff that, as far as the policy was concerned, my children might just as well not exist”
Dear RAF Families Federation, Can you help me? I am frustrated by MoD policy on the allocation of SFA. I am being disadvantaged and being denied my right to a family life.
I am divorced from my wife, who is also serving in the RAF. We have 8-year-old twins for whom we have been awarded joint custody. Part of the custody arrangements is that we share the responsibility of physically looking after the children but, because I have been allocated P Stat Cat 3, I am not entitled to a quarter even though my ex-wife lives in a private house.
I am left with no option but to apply for permission for the children to stay with me in the block where the twins share my bed and I sleep on the floor. This is not an appropriate situation and is not fair on the other occupants of the block.
www.raf-ff.org.uk
I have applied for a surplus SFA but have been told there is no availability, despite there being a number of empty houses on the camp. I have looked at the possibility of buying a home through the Key Worker Living Scheme but would then have the same problem when posted. Contact Houses are the only other option but there aren’t any on my home unit and other unit’s Contact Houses are heavily over-subscribed. Corporal H
The Policy as it Stands When those in the RAF divorce and any children remain with the mother, the father’s P Stat Cat is changed by default to P Stat Cat 3 or 4 (depending on the method by which financial support being provided) and he is therefore not entitled to apply for SFA. Only if you are P Stat Cat 1 (married) or P Stat Cat 2 (with responsibility as the ‘prime mover’ in the life of the child(ren)) are you entitled to SFA. The Service does not recognise ‘joint’ or ‘shared’ custody for the purposes of quarter allocation, even if it forms part of a court order. Current rules state that the individual must prove their entitlement to be P Stat Cat 2 and, in the case of co-serving couples, only one can hold P Stat Cat 2, despite the potential for them to have equal responsibilities as parents. In determining who gets P Stat Cat 2, much seems to hinge on which parent receives the Child Benefit Allowance. This, in the majority of cases, is awarded to the mother at the birth of a child and is very seldom relinquished.
The Frustrations
The frustration for Cpl H is that he cannot fulfil his parental commitment to his children. Also, although he understands that where both parties are serving only one can be allocated a quarter, in his case his ex-wife is in her own home so has no requirement for Service accommodation of any kind yet he still finds himself in the block.
Corporal H’s case is typical of a number of issues that have been presented to us
where individuals find themselves unable to fulfil their continuing role as a parent following separation or divorce. Even where joint or shared custody has been declared with regular visiting rights, the lack of entitlement to SFA (whether by P Stat Cat or non-availability of surplus SFA or contact houses) can become an emotional, as well as financial, burden to the parent. Moreover, the military lifestyle (not to mention the cost) often precludes the option of setting up a home ‘outside the wire’ as the initial problem reappears at the next and subsequent assignment dates.
The Federation’s Involvement The Federation feels it is time for the RAF and the MoD to revisit the policy which underpins the support available to serving parents who find themselves in this position.
The Federation Chairman therefore raised this issue at a number of Ministerial meetings and the MoD has recently agreed to launch a long overdue review of the definition of family, with particular emphasis on PStat2 and 3 categories to reflect the continuing parental responsibilities of divorced parents. A scoping study was completed in December 09 and the Federation will continue to contribute evidence as the review is taken forward.
‘Bucks CC Say I Need Clearance from the FBI’! Dear Families Federation I have just moved, yet again, as a result of my husband’s posting and have been asked to listen to my son’s class read for half an hour each week. I gladly said yes. I expected to fill in yet another Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) form, but did not expect what happened next.
Because we had been living in America for three years on a posting, I have to have an extended check with the USA. I now have to obtain a ‘certificate of good conduct’ from the FBI and have my fingerprints taken at a local police station or Scotland Yard so they can check my criminal record with the USA.
Spring 2010 19
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