RAND Europe’s research for Greenwich Hospital analysed the evolving size, demographics and support needs of the current and former Serving Royal Navy and Royal Marines community to inform future welfare strategy and service delivery. The study investigated topics including health, relationships, employment, finances, housing, future worries, transition and access to support services.

Meeting the Needs of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Community

Linda Slapakova, Catherine Galley, Tristan Kreetz, Sean Flanagan

ResearchPublished Feb 9, 2026

Cover: Meeting the Needs of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Community
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Includes Executive Summary

The UK’s Naval welfare sector provides support to a sizeable community of Serving and former-Serving Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Marines (RM) personnel and their families. To inform future strategic planning around the delivery of support to the community, Greenwich Hospital commissioned RAND Europe to undertake research into the evolving size, demographics and support needs of the RN&RM community.

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 RN&RM community. Firstly, we used modelling and simulation approaches to forecast the size and demographics of the RN&RM community out to 2040. Secondly, we conducted a survey with members of the RN&RM Serving community 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 the members of the Serving and former-Serving RN&RM community 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.

Key Findings

Serving community:

  • The size of the Serving RN&RM community is not likely to change substantially out to 2040 and will primarily be guided by policy changes. The diversity of this community is likely to increase, particularly through a rise in the number of female personnel.
  • While many RN&RM Personnel and partners are satisfied with Service life, they face various unique and increasing demands. In particular, challenges facing the community are often linked to longer deployments in the RN compared to other services. These challenges are exacerbated by an uncertain geostrategic environment.
  • 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 communication, information and accessing support.

Former-Serving community:

  • Out to 2040, the RN&RM former Serving community is likely to become smaller, more demographically diverse and increasingly intergenerational.
  • During transition to civilian life, personnel and families may need more support, especially when departures are unplanned. While most personnel and families have positive transition experiences, some experience challenges in relation to mental health, adjusting to civilian work environments, identity loss, and 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.

Recommendations

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.

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: Greenwich Hospital
  • Publisher: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web-Only
  • Year: 2026
  • Pages: 143
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RRA3197-2
  • Document Number: RR-A3197-2

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Slapakova, Linda, Catherine Galley, Tristan Kreetz, and Sean Flanagan, Meeting the Needs of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Community. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2026. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3197-2.html.
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This research was funded by Greenwich Hospital and conducted by the Defence, Security and Justice Program within RAND Europe.

This publication is part of the RAND research report series. Research reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND research reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.

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