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COVENANT ARMED FORCES COVENANT EXPLAINED


When we are out visiting units it’s still clear that, whilst many Serving Personnel have heard of the Armed Forces Covenant, it is hard to translate it into everyday terms that describe what it’s actually about. Jo Wilkinson, RAF FF Covenant Co-ordinator for East Anglia and South East area, writes about what the Families Federation does to support the Covenant and how our Covenant team works directly with local authorities on your behalf.


A


s RAF Families Federation Covenant Coordinators we’ve been in post for nearly two years and it’s been a busy


time. Our roles were established by funding from the Libor fines, imposed on banks by the government and tasked us to monitor, advise and support the implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant. Our key aims have been to share good practice and initiatives, raise awareness of the Covenant, both inside and outside the RAF, and identify the key issues that are most important to RAF personnel and their families.


Who’s who


Nat Haynes (who’s sadly just left us) covered the South, South West and South Wales; Jo Wilkinson – me – look after


East Anglia and the South East; Julie Price (North England and Scotland) and Maggie Fuller (Lincolnshire and the Midlands, plus RAF Valley).


The key principle of the Covenant is that the Armed Forces Community should not be disadvantaged because of military service. It is not there to confer advantage over the local civilian population.


It may sound like a contradiction but the breadth of the Armed Forces Covenant has been both a challenge and a benefit. It encompasses issues such as health, education, housing and commercial services. This is on behalf of the whole spectrum of the Armed Forces Community, including Service personnel, their spouses and partners,


children, and Veterans. To be effective the Covenant requires commitment and working together from a wide range of organisations such as Local Authorities, NHS organisations, Job Centre Plus, schools and colleges, all manner of other service providers and private and commercial companies. Which begs the question where do we start?


Never a typical day


One day we may be attending a Community Covenant board, made up of representatives from the Local Authority, County councillors, one or more NHS Trust, local charities and personnel from the local RAF or other military units. Each Community Covenant board oversees the implementation of the Community Covenant in a particular area and our role is to share good practice from other areas, provide them with an update


Maggie Fuller, Jo Wilkinson, Nat Haynes and Julie Price 32 Envoy Summer 2015 www.raf-ff.org.uk


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