Meeting the Needs of the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Royal Marines Communities

What is the issue?

The UK military charity sector provides support to a sizeable and diverse community of military personnel, veterans and their families. The size and demographics of this community are expected to evolve significantly out to 2040. For example, the veteran community is likely to become smaller, younger, more diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity and increasingly intergenerational. As the composition of the Armed Forces community changes and the Defence landscape evolves, individuals’ experiences and support needs will also change.

In order to provide effective support to the Armed Forces Community, and to ensure that funds are invested in the most relevant and impactful way, service providers require an accurate understanding of the evolving size, demographics and needs of the community. However, much of the existing research and data are at the tri-Service level, with RAF and RN&RM communities often comprising only a small portion of research samples. This makes it challenging to identify insights that are specific and relevant to each Service community, given differences in Service patterns and community characteristics.

How did we help?

This research had three overarching objectives:

1. Obtain a best estimate of the current and projected size and key demographics of the RAF and RN&RM communities out to 2040, comprising Service Personnel (SP), former-SP, partners and children of Serving and former-SP.
2. Characterise the support needs of the Serving and former-Serving RAF and RN&RM communities through identifying key issues and challenges faced by members of the RAF and RN&RM communities in relation to:
   • Day-to-day living
   • Physical and mental wellbeing
   • Social and family relationships
   • Employment and training
   • Financial wellbeing
   • Housing.
3. Identify recommendations for future service provision, including through assessing awareness and perceptions of available support among the RAF and RN&RM communities and identifying priorities and options for optimising current support provision.

To provide a comprehensive view of the evolving support landscape, RAND Europe used a mixed-methods research design, drawing on analysis of existing and newly collected data from the Serving and former-Serving RAF and RN&RM communities. Firstly, we used modelling and simulation approaches to forecast the size and demographics of the RAF and RN&RM communities out to 2040. Secondly, we surveyed members of the RAF and RN&RM Serving communities to understand the prevalence of different issues and challenges facing the community and identify relationships between support needs and respondents’ demographic and Service characteristics. Thirdly, we conducted interviews with members of the Serving and former-Serving RAF and RN&RM communities to explore their experiences of Service, challenges experienced during and after Service and their understanding and experiences of available support. Throughout the project, we engaged with stakeholders to inform our research design, validate findings and ensure the relevance of our recommendations.

How will the size and demographics of the RAF and RN&RM communities change?

For both the RAF and RN&RM communities, the size and demographics are likely to follow similar trajectories. For both communities, the size of the Serving community is not likely to change substantially out to 2040 and will primarily be guided by policy changes. The diversity of this community is also likely to increase, particularly through a rise in the number of female personnel. Conversely, both former Serving communities are likely to become smaller, more demographically diverse and increasingly intergenerational out to 2040.

What are the key experiences and challenges of the community?

Royal Navy and Royal Marines

• While many RN&RM Personnel and partners are satisfied with Service life, they face various unique and increasing demands. These are often linked to long deployments, ‘weekending’ and uncertainty around operational tempo.
• The issues and challenges facing the serving RN&RM community are multi-faceted. Key priorities for support provision include mental health, loneliness and social isolation, childcare, partner employment, and housing issues.
• In comparison to serving personnel, partners appear less confident in being able to access adequate support, which may relate to barriers in accessing information and support.
• During transition to civilian life, personnel and families may need more support, especially when departures are unplanned. While most personnel and families have positive transitions, some may experience challenges such as in relation to mental health, adjusting to civilian work environments, identity loss, loneliness and social isolation.
• There is evidence of persistent and deeply culturally-embedded psychological barriers that may be hindering help-seeking among Serving and former-Serving RN&RM personnel.

What can be done?

For the sector supporting RN&RM communities, the study provided 26 recommendations oriented at:

• Enhancing physical and mental health support and tackling barriers to help‑seeking.
• Expanding social, family and partner support, including access to affordable childcare and resources for Service children and parents.
• Improving partner employment, career transition, and support for vulnerable families’ financial wellbeing.
• Ensuring access to affordable, high‑quality housing and strengthening local infrastructure.
• Promoting joined‑up, inclusive and flexible service delivery through better signposting, peer‑to‑peer models and trauma‑informed practice.
• Adapting services to an evolving, intergenerational and diverse RN&RM community.
• Strengthening support for those with caring responsibilities and experiencing bereavement and recognise the bereaved community as part of the RN&RM community in its own right.

The findings from the RAF community are not yet published. The key findings and recommendations relating to the RAF community will be added when the report is published in the coming months.

Project Team

This project is funded by the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund and Greenwich Hospital.

Additional team member

Charlotte Wicks