I n t h e W o r k p l a c e
Influencing Pay
H
ave you ever wondered how the Government arrive at that annual pay award for the
Armed Forces? As the committee sit to discuss the pay award for April 2010 Dawn McCafferty explains how, just by talking to us, you can influence the outcome.
OUR SPHERE OF INFLUENCE Readers may, or may not, be aware that the RAF Families Federation is invited to contribute to the work of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB). Evidence is given both in writing and orally, with the three Service Families Federations’ representatives invited to London to give evidence on behalf of the Service families they represent.
Written evidence from the RAF Families Federation has already been provided to the AFPRB for the next round (April 2010) and an extract is produced below. Much of the Federation’s top-level findings were from questions we asked at our interactive workshops this year. Once we have completed the more detailed report on the workshop findings, these, too, will go to the AFPRB. In this way, we hope that the many challenges confronting military families are highlighted and we can influence the AFPRB to continue to recommend a pay award at the top end of the public sector awards.
EXTRACT OF THE EVIDENCE SUBMITTED BY RAF FF FOR THE APRIL 10 PAY AWARD:
“Our attendance at workshops and Families Days across the RAF this year has confirmed that remuneration remains a subject of considerable interest to the Service person and his/her family. The current economic climate is a subject of regular discussion and the impact this is having on recruitment and retention. It would appear that many Service personnel are choosing to stay put in their secure, if unpredictable, military roles, rather than ‘jump ship’ into an uncertain civilian employment market.
www.raf-ff.org.uk
“We do not detect a sudden surge in loyalty to the RAF, nor an enhanced satisfaction with Terms & Conditions of Service underlying a desire to extend a Service career. We suspect that many serving personnel and their families are simply awaiting an upturn in the economy and the job market before they allow deep-lying discontent with the RAF to resurface and impact on retention.
“Families also discuss the housing market and the impact of the ‘credit crunch’ on aspirations to own or move home. We sense some movement from the civilian market into Service Families Accommodation (SFA) but have no hard evidence to back this up. Home ownership still remains a very high priority for many RAF families and many face particular challenges as they are serving in areas with comparatively high property prices.
“The economic climate is also having an impact on spouse/partner employment, with families reporting problems in securing jobs when a re-location forces the non-serving partner to give up work. In a climate where jobs are at a premium, this may well be putting serving personnel under pressure to stabilise their families to protect current employment prospects for partners.
“Separation and operational tempo continue to feature in our discussions with families, particularly for those on formed units who are deploying more frequently and for collectively longer periods than their non-formed unit counterparts. Difficulties in securing leave at a time to suit the family continue, particularly if the post-operational tour leave falls in school term time.
“Evidence extracted from our Issues Database highlights that a number of spouses believe that they have had to set their careers aside as a direct result of their decision to claim Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA). Families have taken the decision to place their
children into the boarding school system to ensure educational stability but, in order to claim the CEA, the spouse has to accompany their serving partner on every posting.
“This has a direct effect on their own employment prospects, as in many instances they have to resign from their current posts to follow their spouse; they are not able to establish or maintain a career in their chosen fields and they are not offered the same opportunities as there is a belief that employers will not consider them because of their mobility. We have anecdotal evidence that many spouses have now reconciled themselves to not having a career whilst their partners are in the RAF, even those that currently work for the MoD Civil Service.
“We have also seen an increase in the number of Service personnel who are frustrated by the lack of recognition for their (unmarried) partners, many of whom have been in relationships for several years and have children together. Individual issues ranged from their lack of entitlement to live together in SFA to their eligibility to claim certain benefits. It is felt that the MoD has failed to acknowledge that the family dynamic has changed over recent years and that policies need to be updated to recognise this.
“Building on the evidence we provided to the AFPRB last year, and based on evidence gathered from our Issues database and from our workshops, we believe that RAF personnel continue to feel under- valued. We opine that pay and benefits are, for many, a negative retention factor which, whilst masked by other factors such as the operational tempo, the continuing high level of separation for many, and the condition of Service- provided accommodation (both married and single), should not be ignored when the next pay round is being considered”.
Readers wishing to learn more about the work of the AFPRB can find information on the Federation website.
Winter 2009 27
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