Figure 10 WHAT FAMILIES HAD TO SAY
“My wife has been employed all the time I have been with her. However she has to make great effort in continuing her employment along with supporting my exercise and deployment commitments over the 16 years. Civilian companies aren’t aware of what is expected of the spouses of RAF personnel and we find it difficult to try and explain the flexibility we need in order to support our duty. There could be better interaction with civilian companies to make them aware of support needs and flexibility during deployment activity.”
“My wife works for NHS, though moving between Trusts when I am posted proves problematic every time. Interview panels often seem worried about employing Service spouses because of the regular moves. Movement between trusts could be made easier within HR Law ie. allowing relocating spouses on the ‘redeployment pool’ etc. Interviews are always problematic, our latest move meant a twelve hour round trip for each interview: with no flexibility offered (telephone/Skype interview etc.).”
“Had difficulty maintaining a career as new employers want to know why my CV is updated every 18 months-2 years. When they find out my partner is RAF at interview questions become very targeted towards time frames and moving locations.”
“Finding employment when you are a military spouse with disabled children is virtually impossible.”
“We have found that it does not pay for my wife to work and put our 2 young children into childcare. Childcare is so expensive that whatever she would earn would be taken up by the cost, with or without vouchers.”
“I cannot continue in the career I chose because my husband is constantly away. As a specialist nurse I would be required to work shifts and unsocial hours, and with a husband who spent 287 days in the last year away, that would be impossible. As a result my qualifications have lapsed with seemingly no financial support to retrain in the future (not entitled to another student loan). It is heart breaking that I can’t do what I trained for because my husband is constantly away.”
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