The Strategic Environment
This report is not the place to describe in complex detail the overall strategic environment in UK Defence or the national economy, but some context is required and we therefore offer our perspective on the key factors impacting on RAF families.
Taking the economic environment first, the Administration’s policies aimed at cutting the Nation’s enormous budget deficit have had far- reaching consequences for all UK citizens. We have all seen cuts in public sector spending impacting on our daily lives, price increases, (particularly in food, fuel and utilities), and the shift in entitlements to state benefits that many feel are now beginning to impact on the most vulnerable in society. The housing market is flat, unemployment is rising, particularly amongst the young, and talk of a deeper recession dominates the political agenda.
All of this impacts on RAF family members as citizens and we hear frequent concerns surrounding the rising cost of living, the need for a second income and the inability of many to afford a home of their own. Many comment on the return of older children after college or university as they cannot afford to rent or buy their own property and are struggling to find employment so return home to the ‘bank of Mum and Dad’. Moreover, many families are also trying to look after elderly relatives or those with disabilities or special needs, creating even more pressure on family finances.
The majority of RAF personnel have had no pay rise this year, imposed by the Government as part of the overall Defence cuts, and they face a second year of pay freeze in 2012. In addition, they have had to accept cuts in the rates of some allowances in order to deliver £250m per year savings across the three Services. They have also watched with dismay as the indexation of their pensions has been changed from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Price Index, a move that experts in the Forces Pensions Society and others state will cost our veterans dear over future years.
On top of all this, RAF families have had the spectre of the Strategic Defence & Security Review casting a long shadow over their lives. The
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announcement in October 2010 that RAF Kinloss was to close came as a body blow to families living there, adding to the misery experienced by families at RAF Cottesmore who were also being uprooted as a result of the unit closure announced previously as an estate rationalisation measure. Communities at RAF Stations Lossiemouth, Leuchars and Marham had to wait until July 2011 to find out that RAF Leuchars would be the next Main Operating Base to be sacrificed and, whilst those at Lossiemouth and Marham could celebrate a more certain future, the impact on those at Leuchars was devastating, as families contemplated relocation and all the stress that would inevitably create.
In order to achieve the required reduction of 5,000 uniformed personnel by 2015, the RAF implemented a phased Redundancy Programme and, for most of 2011, many thousands lived under a demoralising cloud of uncertainty, waiting to see if they had been selected for compulsory redundancy as a non-volunteer.
As predicted, there were insufficient volunteers to fill the required quotas in the designated trades and branches; 53% of the 930 selected for redundancy were non-volunteers, whilst a further group were not selected, despite volunteering. Whilst non-volunteers receive twelve months’ notice, many affected have expressed great distress at being declared surplus to requirements following, for many, years of loyal service, including operational deployments. The challenge of finding new employment, a new home, new schools and a new way of life is significant and many fear for the future in an economic climate where a particularly cold wind blows.
And the uncertainty continues. Details of the Tranche 2 redundancy quotas are released in early 2012, and we remain uncertain as to the requirement for further force reductions thereafter. And underneath the despair of compulsory redundancy lies another layer of misery – the inability of many to extend their service beyond
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