From those on the RAF FF Covenant Front Line
The RAF Families Federation Regional Armed Forces Covenant Coordinators are now in place. Here Jo Wilkinson and Nat Haynes share their first experiences.
Some local authorities have dedicated webpages which trumpet their work on the Armed Forces Covenant whilst with others it involves time consuming use of search engines to find any mention of it. In the most proactive areas there is a proactive and enthusiastic Armed Forces Champion, often a County Councillor, who actively ‘champions’ the Covenant and all it stands for.
Jo Wilkinson
My role is Regional Armed Forces Covenant Coordinator and I cover a large and varied area from London, down to Sussex, up as far as Cambridgeshire and from Surrey and Hertfordshire across to East Anglia.
This a new role and the aim is to assist RAF families by monitoring, advising and reporting on implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant by sharing good practice and initiatives and identifying issues to be resolved. My aim is to work with local authorities, job centres, health organisations, schools and colleges and RAF stations to look at key issues such as service children’s education, childcare, access to healthcare, housing and spouse employment issues. As the role develops I hope to meet with RAF personnel and families to gain their views and opinions which I can then share with these key organisations to start to address these concerns.
The first few weeks have been spent finding out what is going on in each area in terms of implementation of the Covenant and then identifying the relevant people to meet to find out more. It seems that most Local Authorities have signed Community Covenants but implementation on the ground varies greatly.
4 Envoy Autumn 2013
Most areas have a named council officer who undertakes much of the day-to-day work on coordinating the covenant. Locating this person has involved a crash course in the workings of local government as within each local authority this role sits somewhere different. So far, I have come across departments such as Community Engagement, External Funding and Corporate Policy. However, the actual job title of the lead officer appears to be less relevant than the understanding and commitment dedicated to the role by the individual.
For all the people I have met covenant work is not their main role and the covenant piece occupies at most about half a day per week, and more usually far less, within their other responsibilities. However, in almost all the areas they have greeted me with enthusiasm and been keen to engage.
The most proactive areas appear to have very strong covenant boards or working groups made up of representatives from a number of organisations including military representatives who may be from the RAF if there is a station within the area, local Army units and the Territorial Army. Other members usually include the Royal British Legion, SSAFA and specific charities such as Age Concern, Mind and Combat Stress. They usually meet quarterly but in the proactive areas there is active engagement in areas of work between these meetings.
The successful areas appear to have struck a balance between focussing on successful grant bids – both Community Covenant grants and Armed Forces Covenant grants (also called the Libor fund) – and other on-going projects to meet the aims of the Covenant. Some of the examples of good practice I have come across which make a difference to families include:
• provision of regular CAB advice clinics at a RAF station;
• a family activity weekend for RAF personnel and their families who have recently returned from deployment at a local authority outdoor centre;
• establishment of a local LinkedIn social network for personnel who may be considering or subject to redundancy;
• a specific named officer to deal with school admissions for children of Service personnel
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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