YOU AND THE RAF The Covenant


and what it means for families by Dawn McCafferty


Four days after the RAF went on well-earned Christmas leave the Government published the first interim report on the Armed Forces Covenant and announced the establishment of a new Ministerial Committee to add greater weight and scrutiny to the delivery of support to the Armed Forces Community.


I


n case you missed the announcement, or haven’t had time to read the full report in detail, this article attempts


to highlight the key family-related aspects of the Report. However, for anyone in an RAF family we recommend that you take the time to read the Report in its entirety as only then can you fully appreciate the scale of the Covenant’s endeavours and be in a position to provide evidence where you feel that disadvantage occurs or where special treatment might be appropriate because of your membership of a military family.


Readers should be aware that the three Service Families Federations have been active (and noisy!) members of the Covenant Reference Group, helping to shape the interim Report and ensuring that family issues were appropriately represented and reported. We submitted our own independent observations on the key conclusions and were generally happy with the progress made to date, albeit recognising that much work remains to be done.


The Report is more than 112 pages long so it is impossible to summarise it effectively here.


38 Envoy Spring 2012


Instead, we focus on five key family-related topics and encourage readers to visit the Federation website to find out more.


Terms & Conditions of Service The role of the independent Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB) was recognised and reinforced in the Report. As we provide independent evidence to this Body, we welcomed the opportunity to continue to influence recommendations on pay, charges and certain allowances. However, there was acknowledgement that the current 2-year pay freeze and subsequent further two years of pay restraint, combined with the Allowances Review and wider economic misery, were having a compound effect on Service families.


The New Employment Model (NEM) is described in the Report as addressing terms and conditions of service in a holistic manner to ensure that the financial and non-financial elements of the offer made to serving personnel and their families are fair in response to the commitment asked of them. We will continue to use your evidence to influence the development of the NEM wherever we are invited to do so.


Healthcare


Healthcare for non-serving family members can be complicated by Service mobility and the differences in policy and process between NHS areas and the Devolved Administrations. All family members affected by an assignment should retain their relative position on NHS waiting lists, subject to clinical need, and there is provision within the Service to protect couples undergoing assisted conception programmes so they can complete a cycle of treatment.


One area the Families Federations have campaigned for is the provision of mental health support to non-serving family members as we remain concerned that the impact of operations and Service life in general can harm partners’ and children’s mental well-being as well as the man or woman in uniform. The launch of the Big White Wall trial (free for Service personnel and their families) is a step in the right direction and we encourage family members to make use of this online support facility. The Report also touched on the House of Commons Defence Committee Inquiry into support to the bereaved and seriously injured and the development of a Defence Recovery capability. The Inquiry Report, which details evidence provided by the three Federations as well as the chain of command, is available on the RAF FF website.


www.raf-ff.org.uk


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