A QUARTERLY MAGAZINE FOR RAF FAMILIES FOREWORD W From the Director
e sometimes get asked what it is we actually do and I thought it might help if run
through what has been going on over the summer, because it’s not only been incredibly busy but also pretty representative of our business.
A really important part of our job is a strictly confidential service to help individuals with particular queries, issues and concerns. We are getting more approaches for help than ever before. These might involve a simple question that we can either answer on the spot, or we can point at the right people to respond. Sometimes it might be someone who just wants us to know about a problem so that we can highlight it on behalf of everybody.
And then we are frequently contacted by people with a very real and significant problem that needs immediate help and support. We are not a welfare organisation but we will listen and advise people on how to get the best help – and we always follow up to make sure that things are happening. Julie Goodson and soon Ruth McClelland, will normally be the first voice you’ll hear if you call us. Stan Brathwaite is the man for all the housing-related issues we receive, which keeps him more than busy talking to you and his contacts in DIO and MHS.
You are using our website more and more to contact us and our Facebook likes and followers on Twitter continue to grow – there are some really active groups out there with excellent and friendly discussion and advice available. Nick Crouch is our social media guru and does a brilliant job of keeping everybody in touch with what is going on.
Our principal job is to represent your views to the RAF and to act as a ‘temperature gauge’ of opinion. One way of doing this is through our surveys. We’ve now closed our second survey of the year on pay, allowances and quality of life and the report was published at the end of August.
We had an excellent response and Colin Jones has been really busy analysing the data and putting together a report that we hope is fair and balanced but that represents the very strong views many of you have. The responses are hardly surprising: More of you are feeling the pinch of the pay freeze and reductions in allowances, coupled with the rise in charges and living costs. We noted growing unrest amongst
www.raf-ff.org.uk
some technical trades over the ever thorny issue of tech pay and we were struck by the number of people who said they would willingly pay more for their service accommodation if the quality was better. The survey report is on the website for all to see and read.
Our new Armed Forces Covenant Co-ordinators are getting to grips with their new jobs, funded by the Treasury from the fines levied against the banks. They are already having an impact, especially in identifying opportunities for a more coherent approach to delivery of Armed Forces Covenant initiatives by local authorities. See elsewhere in this issue for more detail about what Jo Wilkinson, Nat Haynes, Maggie Fuller and Julie Price are already finding. There is some really good stuff going on in some parts of the country but elsewhere the Covenant is not having the impact it should on removing disadvantage caused by the Service lifestyle.
That’s what I told the Prime Minister when I met him at 10 Downing. I took the opportunity to explain that ‘selling’ the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant to you is made all the more difficult when our serving personnel have seen their pay frozen, allowances cut, pensions changed and charges rise and that many of you feel you are being given a little bit with one hand while a lot is taken away with the other. He had the courtesy to acknowledge my point but I don’t think I changed Government policy and a 20% pay rise for all is not just around the corner as a result. I did, however, assure ‘our’ minister, Mr Mark Francois, when I saw him a couple of days later of our continued support for the Covenant itself.
We had a lovely visit from Lady Anne Dalton to say goodbye as her husband came to the close of his time as Chief of the Air Staff (CAS). They have both been great supporters of the Federation – indeed when he was Air Member for Personnel (AMP), Sir Stephen set it up – and we wish them both a long and happy retirement. We look forward to seeing the new CAS and Lady Nicola for a visit before too long – perhaps they’ll come on the bike…
One of the best bits about working for the Federation is getting out and about to meet you – our customers. Over the summer, we have visited Marham, Henlow, Wittering, Leeming, Cyprus, Shawbury, Benson, Wyton, Waddington, Cosford, Scampton, Brize Norton and Honington, either to collect survey evidence, support Families Days or just for a chat. With just eight staff, this is about as much as we
can manage, especially as the Federation team seems to expect to be granted leave as well, but we do really enjoy and value that face to face contact. We have more visits planned during the Autumn, so keep an eye out for us, we always try and give plenty of notice.
Then there’s this magazine to get published. Our Comms Manager, Ann Dewar, works long and hard to pull all the articles together and in true journalistic style is always up against last minute deadlines. Everyone tells us that the end result is a good read and appreciated but if you think there’s stuff we should be covering and we’re not, or you’d like to submit an article or advertise an event, just contact Ann yourself. We are also seeking volunteers to help spread the word about the Families Federation, initially on our Main Operating Bases, so if you’d like to help by contributing just a few hours a month, again please contact Ann who will give you the details.
Other issues we are busy with include supporting the NEM consultation process. If you have not yet completed the NEM survey, please go online to do so as soon as possible – it’s important you make your views known. We are also working with our sister Federations on our contribution to the Armed Forces Covenant report to Parliament and continuing to look at other trends and issues we think we can help with – such as all kinds of housing issues, queries about how the Covenant can be applied in specific circumstances and an old one, that has re-emerged in recent weeks, concerning the provision of ID cards for all RAF spouses and dependants living outside the wire that will give them access to stations – even when their serving family member is away.
Finally, some of you will know that we are parented by RAFA and that the contract for looking after us is due for re-let. There’s a competition for the contract and much of our summer has been taken up with helping RAFA to compile a submission that we hope will allow us to carry on beyond May next year. We won’t know the answer for a while yet but we’ll let you know when we do.
Enjoy the magazine. Envoy Autumn 2013 5
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