The RAF Families Federation have contributed to a review of the
X-Factor. This representation of the RAF families was requested by the Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB).
X- D 6 Winter 2007
Factor
“For his career I have sacrificed mine” “He has never had leave cancelled by his boss – he has cancelled it himself!”
“Leave has been refused at short notice recently”. “We make fewer decisions together which strains the relationship”.
“Causes anxiety in the children”. “Most families are likely to end up on Council waiting lists rather than having the chance to own their own home”.
“Often I feel in the dark or left alone to cope”. “Service life is not family friendly”.
“I feel families are an inconvenience to the Services”. “I will be pressuring my husband to leave the Service before our eldest reaches High School age”.
“Marriage should be a partnership but a Service spouse is treated like an extra child”. “Spouses with children liken their lives to those of single parents, taking on full responsibilities of life and parenting”.
“10 years ago you could look at doing at least one tour overseas to experience a different culture, now it is rare to even go overseas” “The pros for working in the RAF are diminishing”.
”We have a 2-year old – try explaining where Daddy is to her”.
oes this all sound too familiar? Tese are responses from RAF families to a recent X- Factor review. Te X-Factor is that element of RAF pay supposed
to compensate for the comparative advantages and disadvantages of military life (currently set at 13%).
The impact of the X-Factor is of great interest to the policy makers as it has a wide reaching effect on many areas, for
example recruitment, retention, military salary and allowances. And yet the same review noted that ‘the level of understanding and awareness of the X-Factor was very low amongst family members (indeed, it is low amongst serving personnel) and this has highlighted a communication issue for the RAF.’
In addition to the findings and quotes from families the RAF FF also noted that the past 17 years have seen only a 2.5% increase in X-Factor, yet the pressures facing RAF personnel
and their families today are significantly more demanding. An increased operational tempo and a massive shift from the old “Cold War” scenario to the more recent “expeditionary” air force sees thousands of personnel deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other trouble spots around the world. Families are experiencing frequent and prolonged absences of loved ones, and Out of-Area (OOA) deployments are no longer the exception but more the rule. Whilst welcoming improvements in some allowances, most believe that the % of
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