Introduction by the Chairman of the RAF Families Federation


2011 has been a challenging year for RAF personnel and their families and the Federation team has been kept extremely busy coping with the many issues family members bring to our attention. We have done our best to provide a professional service that is confidential to the hundreds of enquirers who have made contact with us, and we have extended our evidence-gathering capabilities to capture even more data from family members, all in the hope of influencing change for the better.


Our report this year focuses on the post Strategic Defence & Security Review era and the impact some of those decisions is beginning to have on those who serve and the families who support them. We comment on the launch of the Armed Forces Covenant and our role as part of the Covenant Reference Group, acutely aware as we do so of the dichotomy posed by a Government that is seeking to simultaneously reduce its Armed Forces whilst demonstrating how much it recognises the unique nature of military life and values the sacrifices made by the Armed Forces community. So far, the balance is far from right but we will continue in our efforts to influence this important piece of work to the benefit of RAF families.


We provide an overview of key Federation activity and an update on our communications effort, an area that is really beginning to gain traction with a very wide audience indeed. The report details the core themes arising from our reactive issues database and describes our third season of proactive evidence-gathering - this time taking our surveys online to reach a much wider representation of RAF families.


Rather than report all survey findings in one document, as we have done before, this year we have opted to create separate reports on each of the themed areas of interest so that a more targeted approach to distribution could be achieved. If you haven’t received one or more of these separate supplementary reports and would like to, simply call the Federation team and we’d be happy to oblige.


I take this opportunity to thank every member of the RAF Family for their on-going support of their Federation and to commit myself and my team to continuing our efforts to provide serving RAF personnel and their family members with an independent voice on those issues that matter most to them. We are proud to be of service to such an exceptional group of people and we hope to help them navigate through the maze of change and uncertainty created by the Strategic Defence & Security Review, which we fear will dominate RAF life for at least the next few years.


D A McCAFFERTY Chairman RAF Families Federation


www.raf-ff.org.uk 5


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