COVENANT
on Covenant news or policy and advise them on the particular needs and issues relevant to RAF personnel and their families. Or we could be meeting key people from the NHS either at a regional or national level to promote the Covenant and advise them on the impact of Service life on families. We regularly meet up with the Community Support Team from RAF units to identify any particular Covenant-related issues at that unit and we use this information to provide feedback to the RAF and MOD on the impact of the Covenant at a local, regional and national level.
Other days might involve meeting with schools to advise them on how to get the most benefit from their Service Pupil Premium or support them to access the MOD Education Support Fund. No one day is quite the same as another and we can clock up some impressive mileage between us as we travel far and wide.
The really good news for serving RAF personnel and their families is that there is a huge amount of enthusiasm and commitment amongst the authorities, organisations and companies charged with delivering the Covenant. Changes may not
always be very visible to families on a day- to-day basis but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t having a big impact on many areas of disadvantage.
One of the Aims of the Community Covenant is to increase integration between the local civilian and military populations. At times it can be hard to balance expectations between the two; particularly in recent times of austerity when local authorities have been cutting back on resources and services. However, the picture is not gloomy at all. In most areas with significant RAF populations, and in many areas without, local authorities are extremely supportive and have allocated both money and personnel to ensure the Covenant is not only implemented in spirit but in practice too.
In return many RAF units have opened their gates to local people to use sports facilities, youth clubs and childcare, bringing the communities closer together. Many RAF personnel and families will benefit from the thousands of pounds that have been secured for a whole range of Community Covenant Grant Scheme projects such as playgrounds, activity camps, learning
centres, community centres, youth clubs and sports facilities.
What’s next
Over the last two years or so, there has been great momentum behind the Covenant and our biggest challenge is to ensure that this continues in the future, despite the end of operations in Afghanistan perhaps impacting on the fantastic levels of support shown to the military by the British public. We are all Service wives ourselves in the Covenant team and it has been a real pleasure to be so closely involved in supporting efforts to reduce the often significant disadvantages associated with Service life and to help our own kind benefit as a result. We hope that our role will continue for a while yet: There is still much to do to further raise awareness, both within the RAF and amongst the organisations delivering the Covenant to us.
If you want to know more about the AF Covenant and the Community Covenant in particular, go to our website:
www.raf-ff.org.uk or the MoD Covenant website. Your local Authority website will usually have some pages describing what they vare doing locally to support you as well.
There for themthen, still there for themnow
For 130 years SSAFAhas been supporting all thosewho are serving or have ever served in the ArmedForces and their families.Whenever they need us, we’ll dowhatever we can to help.
www.raf-ff.org.uk
Envoy Summer 2015
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