Are you serving where you asked to serve?


No 33%


Yes 67%


Resilience and Morale


The RAF has a well-deserved reputation for the professionalism, energy and commitment displayed by its personnel and their families. Our people are inherently resilient, capable and understand that Service life has an upside and a downside. We (the RAF FF) have always found that personnel - as a generalisation – thought the benefits of Service life (the ‘Offer’ or that unspoken moral ‘contract’) outweighed the disadvantages. More recently, we have sensed that people feel that gap is closing; some feel it is already closed and, inevitably, some feel that the disadvantages now outweigh the advantages for their particular circumstances and expectations. Our anecdotal evidence suggests the majority remain pretty resilient and cope well with whatever they are asked to do. But there is plenty of evidence – notably AFCAS 16 - to indicate that morale is not great at present and this is borne out by our survey, where over 85% agree with AFCAS 16 that morale is in decline.


In our report to the Armed Forces Pay Review Body in 2016 we highlighted that the high-end tempo of deployment and training for some of our squadron personnel and force elements is unrelenting, impacting both on those that deploy and those that do not but who invariably have to manage the gaps created. A significant number of comments have mirrored this in our survey: Operational tempo versus available manpower was often mentioned by both junior and more senior alike - with some leaders and managers commenting on the second order effect on (and their inability to sustain): work/life balance, leave entitlement (mostly their own) or for some the ability to undertake force development, sport and adventurous training. However, what was reassuring was that approximately 75% of respondents were able to participate in AT and station sport. Personnel commented specifically on concerns with respect to effective strength numbers against establishment figures including having the requisite Suitably Qualified Experienced Personnel (SQEP) available to deliver for all.


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