I used to be very proud to serve in the RAF and would deploy without question or complaint. Now I find our pay is decreasing (with the introduction of the new pay model and increase in National insurance I have taken a £600 per year pay cut), and our allowances are reduced or don’t match the increase in food and fuel price increase.


There are some wonderful parts of being part of a military family, from the sense of community, family events, deployment packs, sports facilities, social teams to groups like Poppy Pods and Tickets for Troops.


There are three key elements keeping our family in the military - pension, SFA housing and CEA. Removal or excessive change to any of these will give us little cause to stay in the military.


Our “independent” pay review body isn’t and toes the government line.


As a married couple with both individuals serving, it has become increasingly difficult to find the work life balance we wish to have while both remaining within the RAF. The constant erosion of the ‘offer’ is gradually taking its toll and it is unlikely to be a ‘big’ event that will cause one of us to leave but more likely the cumulative impact of the wider offer (accn standard/ charges/lack of pay increase above 1% for a number of years/frequency of deployments).


Why do we have an ‘Armed Forces Pay Review Body’? They are supposed to be independent, and yet we all know they just recommend what the government tell them to recommend. They are NOT an independent organisation.


Surely the point of the AFPRB is there to listen to our complaints and make a recommendation from that. If they just agree on what the government says anyway then what is the point of them doing their jobs?


I feel the military rely heavily on people’s commitment and pride but ‘the deal’ I joined up on is simply not there anymore, the continual erosion of pay/allowances which has been matched only by the increased operational commitment and chronic under manning has eroded personnel’s morale.


I’m on Loan Service in Oman. My main dissatisfaction is the level of allowances. Why should service personnel be expected to contribute towards costs that are solely caused by service need Having worked alongside many different nations and seen how much they are rewarded/ recompensed I can see the British treat their service personnel poorly in comparison.


Service life is difficult especially when you are both serving and working long hours. Both our trades expect above and beyond and do not understand the implications financially and emotionally on both serving personnel the child care cost to cover both your shift patterns is normally around £1000 this is a lot to lose out your pay a month for serving your country and regularly leaving your children for deployment with no help from the RAF to meet your service requirements just a high stress level and bigger childcare bill. Yes it is a choice to have children and stay in the RAF however the modern world requires both mum and dad to work and if you both give it your all in the military it would help to have more support for serving parents both in the military and single serving parents.


wwww.raf-ff.org.uk ww.raf-ff.org.uk 19


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