EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The ‘Support to Families’ survey has identified that, whilst there is a wide range of welfare support services and facilities available to RAF families, there remains a lack of general awareness about them, particularly amongst the non-serving community. Those who have accessed these resources were generally content with the support given, but there is still scope for improvement.
It is considered the provision of welfare support needs to be more consistent, so families know what to expect, whether they live and work on a RAF unit or in a combined Service environment. It is also apparent there needs to be more direct communication with the wider, non-serving family, whether they reside in Service Families Accommodation (SFA) or their own homes. Welfare providers cannot assume the service person will always relay the information to their families. Increased use of the internet and social media sites in the future may alleviate some of these issues, provided the information is clear, concise and easy to locate.
For ease of reference, the main findings arising from this survey were as follows:
u There was a reasonable level of awareness about the welfare support services available. Most voters had heard of, and used, at least one welfare provider.
u Although there was a good awareness of the welfare support provided by the military charities, relatively few voters had actually utilised many of these services.
u A third of voters described the welfare services available to them as good; 23% said that they were poor. Of concern are the 13% who did not know what was available.
u 16% of those who participated in the survey told us their sense of belonging to the parent unit has been affected because they had been allocated Service accommodation more than 10 miles away.
u 30% of voters said they feel part of the ‘RAF family’. However, 36% told us they did not.
u While 18% of voters found it easy to communicate with their Serving family member when they were deployed on operational duties, 20% told us it had been difficult.
u 65% of participants were aware of the RAF Point of Contact (POC) system; however, only 41% had actually used it when their Serving family member was deployed.
u 33% of those who voted had not been offered the opportunity to attend a family deployment briefing/event but 15% did not know that these events were even available.
u Voters opted for ‘written communication/newsletters from the unit’, ‘regular phone calls from the POC/unit’ and ‘access to a website with information about the deployment’ as favoured alternatives to attending a family-orientated deployment briefing.
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www.raf-ff.org.uk
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