F e d e r a t i o n N e w s
What Was Being Done Already? The Paper detailed a range of initiatives already introduced to enhance support to the military constituency. Should readers wish to remind themselves of these enhancements, details can be found in Chapter 3 of the Paper.
What has the Government Done Since as a Direct Result of this Study? The Paper detailed a wide range of initiatives agreed with other Government Departments and the Devolved Administrations aimed at enhancing support to Service personnel and their families. In many areas, the RAF Families Federation did not believe the recommendations went far enough and, through our membership of the External Reference Group, charged with monitoring implementation of the Paper, we maintained pressure on the Government to deliver more. A summary of the key recommendations and progress to date appears below but readers are advised to read the entire Paper if they wish to understand the full scope of the proposals that have been signed up to.
Enhanced Armed Forces Compensation Scheme. In Dec 08, the upfront lump sum payment for injury under the AFCS was doubled for the most serious injuries. All recipients, according to severity of injury, received an uplift of between 10 and 100% in their upfront lump sum payment.
Retention of NHS waiting list position. When Service families move home, all things being equal, they will not lose their place on secondary care waiting lists across the UK, although differences between waiting list targets still exist and may impact on patients moving between England and the Devolved Administrations.
Dental care. The Department of Health and other health departments have worked to improve the provision of dentistry in key areas with high levels of Service dependants. Local health areas have been encouraged to develop plans with local military communities.
Extended eligibility for Key Worker Living Scheme. Priority status had already been granted for serving personnel in England under the Key Worker Living scheme. However many do not purchase a home when they are still serving as they are not posted to the location in which they wish to
16 Winter 2009
purchase. Service leavers have now been granted entitlement to a further one year’s assistance under the programme after they have left.
Free further or higher education.With effect from Apr 09, personnel who serve more than 6 years are entitled to free education
when they leave. This means that Service leavers can achieve at least their first ‘A’ levels, or vocational equivalent, free from tuition fees. Alternatively, Service leavers who wish to progress to higher levels will have their tuition fees for a first Foundation or full degree paid.
Concessionary bus travel.With effect from 2011, the entitlement to free bus travel will be extended to include both Service personnel and veterans under the age of 60 who were seriously injured in service.
1st Annual Report
The External Reference Group is required to produce an Annual Report on the implementation of the Service Personnel Command Paper. This will provide far more detail on the commitments and the progress being made to deliver on those commitments across the UK. On your behalf, we have contributed to the draft Annual Report and expressed concerns that, in some areas, the Government is claiming greater progress than we believe they can justify.
As an example, we have expressed concerns about the achievement of enhanced basic skills and access to training facilities for Service spouses via ‘spare capacity’ in military training facilities. We have also questioned the true impact of changes to the transfer of employment between public sector jobs. The Army Families Federation has highlighted the raised expectations of parents regarding access to school places which are not necessarily going to be met and the Naval Families Federation has expressed concerns about the commitments regarding stability for those undergoing IVF.
In sum, the 3 Federations have all played
their part in validating the Paper, challenging assumptions and, where possible, providing evidence of where further work is still required. In order to do this with confidence, we need your evidence. Our data collection will continue to focus on Command Paper issues so that we can provide meaningful feedback on this work.
Making it Last
In parallel with preparation of the 1st Annual Report, the Government published a public Consultation Paper entitled ‘The Nation’s Commitment to the Armed Forces Community: Consistent and Enduring Support’. The Paper proposes a range of options for making the Government deliver on its commitments for the longer term. It also proposes routes for recourse for any member of the Armed Forces community who feels that they remain disadvantaged by virtue of being a member of the military constituency. We have contributed to this debate and look forward to seeing which options are taken forward and in what time-scale.
STOP PRESS: The 1st Annual Report was issued in November and is available on our website.
As always, we intend to monitor very closely the delivery of the Command Paper’s intent. If the staffs at MoD or in Other Government Departments fail to deliver, we will hold them to account – but we need your evidence to do so.
Where provision is not made or where RAF family members still feel they are disadvantaged as a direct result of military service, you must give us the evidence and we promise to take that to the Ministers responsible for delivering this strategy.
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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