Foreword by the Director


Following the tremendous response we received to our ‘Nations Support to the RAF’ survey last year, we developed a series of questions for our first survey of 2013 that focused upon awareness of the commitments made to Service families by the Armed Forces Covenant. We wanted to assess how implementation and communication of the Covenant is progressing and also determine to what extent people feel that the disadvantages that affect military families are being rectified.


One of the key issues our evidence highlighted last year was that many Service families simply did not understand what the Covenant meant to them personally or how it could support them. This year, the survey evidence indicates that more work is still required: While many of those who took part in our survey have heard of the Covenant, and recognise the general intent behind it, they still do not fully appreciate how it can help them and their families.


We hope you will find our report useful and informative. In addition to the statistics and conclusions we have included a selection of comments made by those completing the survey, some positive, some not so! These we believe add depth to the findings and tone to some of the answers offered.


The evidence we received will now be circulated at the most senior levels within the RAF and MoD and shared with our sister organisations to help inform the debate and strategy in this increasingly important area.


We are most grateful to everyone who took time to complete our survey and to talk to us. Please, as ever, keep the feedback coming.


BILL MAHON Director RAF Families Federation


www.raf-ff.org.uk 3


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28