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IN THE WORKPLACE


Secondly, we need to reflect the changes in social, demographic and economic conditions in our society and the complexities of modern family life. And thirdly, the package needs to be affordable and sustainable in the long- term; attractive to Service personnel and fair to the tax-payer. We call this project ‘the New Employment Model’ or NEM. In fact, it isn’t a single project at all but a number of distinct workstrands addressing different challenges.


It’s not about overnight transformation. It will be a process out to 2020 and beyond. At the heart of the NEM will be a measured shift towards a greater emphasis on individual value, personal choice and responsibility; ensuring greater value to the individual through more flexible tailoring of Armed Forces remuneration; and more stability to Service families through fewer moves, more opportunities for employment of the partners and greater opportunities for home ownership.


Accommodation lies at the heart of this challenge. The majority of our Regular Service personnel rely on publically provided accommodation because the job currently demands a very high degree of mobility around the UK – and sometimes beyond. We want this to change. We want to offer more stability and in doing so make it possible for families to set down roots as civilian families do. Enabling the children of Service personnel to be settled in one area and to avoid frequent changes of school; and making it easier for partners of Service personnel to find work.


www.raf-ff.org.uk


Our goal is to enable Service Personnel more freedom to make the choices that other people make: About where, for example, to live. So alongside a steady improvement in the quality of service accommodation, we want to increase access to home ownership for Service personnel, providing realistic lifestyle choices.


There are a number of ways this could be achieved and we will look at developing a range of options. The stark fact is that people in the Armed Forces, with a generous, non-contributory pension scheme, are accumulating significant wealth during their service. So, the challenge we have set ourselves is to explore models that would allow our people either to directly access some of that accumulating wealth or to use it to help mortgage borrowing.


This would not, of course, remove the need for Service accommodation. Especially for younger, single Service people, this will often be the right choice, or indeed, the only one! The Armed Forces will continue to provide subsidised accommodation for those who require it.


Of course, whether you are in the Forces or in a civilian job, taking on the responsibility of homeownership these days often requires two reliable incomes. So making it easier for the partners of service people to find and keep work is a critical precondition to boosting home ownership.


As a whole, the NEM will include everything from accommodation and home ownership issues, to overall pay structure, training and education needs, career management and manpower control.


The NEM will support both Regular and Reserve personnel – and will build on the Whole Force concept and the integration of Regular and Reserves.


Watch this space… Towards the summer, the NEM team will be consulting with Service personnel and their family members and testing some of the ideas already being developed. So please watch the RAF FF website for further announcements on this.


Further information


DIB 2012DIB/66 dated 22 Nov 12 updates on progresss of NEM and is available on the Airspace website.


The Secretary of States full speech can be found on the RAF FF website at: www.raf-ff.org.uk


You may also be interested to read the article in RAF News entitled ‘Brave New World’ in which the Air Secretary and Chief of Staff Personnel, Air Vice-Marshal Matt Wiles, speaks candidly about NEM, saying it is the most significant and wide ranging shake-up in decades. The article can be found on the RAF FF website.


Envoy Spring 2013 33


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