There was a more varied response when we asked about direct contact between families and their deployed serving family member; 18% told us it was easy to keep in touch but 20% had encountered difficulties, which can create an additional strain on the family.
We also asked about the official RAF Point of Contact (POC) programme as we have received mixed feedback on this essential source of support to families. Although 65% of participants had heard of the POC programme, only 41% told us their families had used it. Of those, 16% said it worked well for them, but of some concern are the 13% who told us their experiences of the POC programme were poor. Many reported that the POC had not contacted them whilst their serving family member was deployed, which is one of the fundamental aspects of the system.
Figure 12:
When asked if the non-serving family member(s) had been offered the chance to attend family- orientated deployment briefings/events, 22% reported that they had, while 33% told us that they had not. Again, there was some concern about the 15% who voted that ‘I didn’t know that the briefings/ events were available’ and we believe that more proactive communication may be necessary to ensure that all families are made aware that this type of face-to-face support is offered.
Figure 12 summarises the forms of communication voters would like to see provided as an alternative, if they were unable to attend a unit/squadron event. It is interesting to note the difference in responses between the serving and non-serving participants – clearly the non-serving family members who took part would prefer more written communications, which they could then refer to as and when needed.
With regards to other written communications between the station and families during deployments, 41% of voters told us they had not received a Deployment Information Pack from their local HIVE, but on a positive note 32% had been sent a pack, which they found useful.
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