We provide a voice for the RAF Community on the issues you experience and the concerns you have. We do this with evidence, from the issues you raise with us, in the form of our own reports and responding to third party reports.

This page captures how our reports and submissions influence key recommendations in important reports, designed to improve a range of areas for service families. You can see our more recent reports, submissions and summaries below, along with the final reports from bodies like the Defence Select Committee, and Government Departments.

Annual Armed Forces Covenant Reports

Every year the three Families Federations are given the opportunity to comment on the Annual Armed Forces Covenant Report. This is our opportunity to highlight the successes as well as the areas we have collectively identified for improvement.  The areas that we comment on are childcare, accommodation, health, education and spousal employment.

How the RAF Families Federation helps you

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Military Coworking Network Evaluation report

The Military Coworking Network (MCN) was set up by a military spouse to ensure that military spouses and their partners have a space (physical and virtual) to create independent, professional lives alongside military life. This is a Pilot scheme funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Trust Fund. To date, the MCN has nine coworking hubs, as well as thriving online network.

The RAFFF, on behalf of all three Families Federations manages the MCN. As part of the management of the Pilot project, the RAFFF (with the help of the MCN Delivery Team) has facilitated an independent evaluation of the first 4 Hubs that were set up.

Children’s Commisioner Independent Family review

The RAF Families Federation team met with the Children’s Commissioner’s team to highlight the unique challenges that service life can bring to the children in our families. The report forms part of the Independent Family Review commissioned by government. It is great to see the evidence that families share with us being used in key reports that influence policy change.

Submissions

The RAF Families Federation (RAFFF) submit responses to Government proposals and requests for evidence on behalf of the RAF community. For each submission made we ask for your direct input and we combine this with any relevant reported issues as evidence in our response. Recent requests for evidence below:

  • House of Lords Home-Based Working Committee – The RAFFFF, in conjunction with the Naval and Army Families Federations, contributed to the House of Lords report into home-based working. We were able to highlight the impact of mobility on the non-serving partner’s career and the flexibility that home working offered. We also highlighted the Military Coworking Network  as an online offer for partners and the locations with physical hubs. The final report can be found here.

  • Welsh Government Review of the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment – The RAFFF responded to a Welsh Government consultation on the Review of the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) Duty on Local Authorities in October 2025 to request that the experiences and needs of the RAF community are taken into consideration as part of the review. You can read our response here Details of the consultation outcome will be published on the Welsh Government website in due course.

  • Education Committee: Solving the SEND Crisis – In January 2025, the RAF Families Federation submitted a response to the Education Committee inquiry on Solving the SEND Crisis to highlight some of the key issues and challenges that can arise for Armed Forces families as well as potential solutions. We encouraged the Education Committee to consider our evidence and proposals and actively engage with the MOD and Defence Children Services to ensure the needs of children and young people from an Armed Forces background are taken into consideration and that any changes to SEND provision will meet their needs and enable them to thrive in education. Our submission was published on the UK Parliament website in September 2025 and is available here: RAFFF Written evidence – Education Committee – UK Parliament.

  • NHS dentistry contract: quality and payment reforms

    The Department of Health and Social Care is consulting on changes to the NHS dental contract in England — aiming to increase urgent dental appointments, improve support for patients with complex needs, and boost preventative care.

    The RAF Families Federation has responded on your behalf, sharing the unique challenges RAF families face when accessing NHS dental care — especially with frequent moves across England, the Devolved Nations, and overseas.

  • House of Commons Select Committee

    • 25th April 2025 – In April the RAF Families Federation, in conjunction with the Army Families Federation and the Naval Families Federation, responded to a call for evidence from House of Lords Select Committee on Remote and Hybrid working in the UK. The impact of mobility is reported to us as a major impact on the careers of the non-serving spouse. The combined response can be found here (pdf) >
    • 4th February 2025 – Interim Director Vanessa, gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on the expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant watch it here (parliment.tv). We also provided further written evidence to the inquiry with our other Families Federation colleagues in a Tri-Families Federation submission (pdf).
    • 16th October 2023 – Further to our 2021 submission the Defence Select Committee asked for a review of the findings and our comments on the progress, since the Women in the Armed Forces Report. The RAF Families Federation continues to advocate for improvements for women in the Armed Forces.
    • 13th September 2023 – Director, Maria, gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee Sub-Committee inquiry into Service Accommodation, advocating for improved accommodation for service personnel and their families – watch it here. We also provided further written evidence to the inquiry, which has now been published with the other written submissions
    • 9th May 2023 – Director, Maria, provided evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee sharing the evidence that the RAF Community shared with us about Cost of Living, Accommodation, Children with Special Educational Needs, Dentistry, Wrap around childcare and Broadband provision for Single Living Accommodation watch it here >

  • Curriculum – In November 2024, we contributed to the Department for Education’s call for evidence on Improving the curriculum and assessment system (gov.uk). We requested the experiences of UK Service children, in particular the potential challenges relating to mobility and continuity of education, is taken into consideration in the review process. We have submitted a response and the DfE Curriculum and Assessment Review Interim Report was published in March 2025. We will continue to engage with the DfE and other stakeholders on this matter.

  • VAT on School Fees – The HM Treasury requested a Technical Consultation on the proposed increases to VAT on Private School Fees (www.gov.uk). The RAFFF asked RAF personnel to share their views. We received over 100 responses highlighting how the proposed increases will affect our RAF families. We submitted your responses and were delighted when the MOD agreed to recalculate CEA rates in an attempt to counter the VAT addition – read more here.

  • Scottish Government call for evidence of Further and Higher Education financial support
    The challenge with funding for HE and FE in Scotland is something that we had previously been made of aware, so were really pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to this call for evidence. We canvassed our RAF Community and received a number of really informative examples of the impact of the funding on RAF personnel, you can see our response here. The consultation analysis has now been published and can be accessed here.

  • Scottish Parliament consultation addressing child poverty through parental employment.

    At the RAFFF we recognise more and more it is important for families to be able to have dual incomes.  This call for evidence enabled us to use some of the information that we had received from our previous childcare survey as well as from a recent Spousal Employment Community Forum as we were able to highlight the importance of available and affordable childcare to enable both parents to work. Our submission is available here: RAFFF response to Scottish Parliament on child poverty

  • Education Select Committee – Support for childcare and the early years – UK Parliament

    The Education Select Committee asked for comments on the provision of childcare and the early years in a call for evidence.  The RAFFF coordinated a response across the RAF Community through a snapshot survey conducted in January 2023 and evidence provided to us in the 2021 Childcare Survey. View our submission here.

  • Special Educational Needs and Disabilities – We provided feedback on your behalf for the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Review (consultation closed)

    The RAFFF sought input from our RAF Families to ensure we were representing the views of the RAF Community. We were able to coordinate an extensive review of the different references and the lived experiences of our personnel to put together a comprehensive summary of how the unique experiences of RAF Families would be benefitted from the improvements we suggested. The final report, following our recommendations can be found here: Independent analysis of the consultation responses to the SEND review: right support, right place, right time (gov.uk)

  • Office for Tax Simplification – Review of hybrid and distance working (consultation closed)

    The RAFFF canvassed the RAF Units for input from families affected by overseas and Hybrid working, this enabled us to collate the views of those directly affected by the changes, to offer suggestions as to how the military community would benefit from a review to some of the rules, our submission can be found here.  The final recommendations following our submission can be found here: OTS report on hybrid and distance working (gov.uk)

How we can help

We exist to help with any issues you face, as part of Service life. If there is an issue or concern you need support with, let us know.