RAF Families Survey September 2008
Accommodation
Respondents were mostly satisfied with the rent paid for and procedures for moving in and out of SFA. However âSupport provided by Defence Estatesâ was poorly rated by a large proportion of spouses. Respondents made a significantly large number of comments about Accommodation issues, and these tended to be regarding maintenance, standard, and cleanliness of Service Families Accommodation.
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Over one-third of children with Special Educational Needs were not registered with the Service Childrenâs Education Agency (SCE). Of the respondents that indicated they had a problem with getting their child into a school of their choice, and of which the SCE helped with an appeal, each won their case. For those appeals in which the SCE were not involved, not all were successful. Almost half of respondents did not feel that boarding school was a suitable option for their children, and many of the free-response comments referred to a willingness for the spouse to live apart from their partner if it guaranteed stability for their childâs education.
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Postings, detachments and shift working continued to pose problems for spouses. A large majority indicated they had to leave a civilian job because of a posting, but claiming Job Seekerâs Allowance also appeared to cause problems due to being married to/in civil partnership with a member of the RAF [1] . Many spouses felt that pursuing their own career was difficult.
[1] This has been recognised by the Department of Work and Pensions since the publication of the Command Paper: The Nationâs Commitment in July 2008. Any spouse of a service person who has left a job due to posting is now fully entitled to claim Job Seekerâs Allowance.
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Information about allowances and pay continued to be poorly rated, and respondents made qualitative comments criticising the level of information they received about financial aspects. Boarding School Allowance/Continuity of Education Allowance and Furniture Removal Expenses were positively rated, but Separated Service Allowance, Long Service Advance of Pay and Excess Fare Allowance were viewed less favourably.
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There were a substantial number of spouses indicating they had a problem registering with a dentist. Many of the free-response comments also referred to this problem. However, registering with a GP only caused a problem for a small number of respondents. Personal recommendation was most commonly cited as the means of achieving a solution.
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Respondents were generally satisfied with their lifestyle, however there were specific factors that caused particular dissatisfaction. Communication appeared to be an issue for respondents, as many felt the information and support they were given by the RAF was poor. This is supported by the large number of spouses who were not aware of receiving several pieces of information prior to their partner going on detachment. Also, the lack of opportunity to make long terms plans was a big problem for many of the respondents, particularly Officersâ spouses who appeared to be subject to a greater number of postings than spouses of other ranks. The amount of notice given for postings was poorly rated, particularly by Officersâ spouses.
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It was perceived by many spouses that âAvailability of housingâ and âChildrenâs Educationâ would not change if their partner left the RAF. However it was thought by most that âStandard of housingâ, âYour career prospectsâ, and âGeneral family lifeâ would improve, and very few thought these aspects would worsen if their partner left the Service. âYour spouse/partnerâs career prospectsâ however had a much larger proportion that expected this to worsen, although still not as many as those that thought it would improve. Similar numbers of respondents thought that their family income would either improve or deteriorate.
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The aspect rated as being of most importance was âChildrenâs Educationâ. Whilst most spouses indicated they had access to the internet, many expressed they had not heard of the RAF Community Support website or ever used it.
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