The Future Accommodation Model
 

Here it is - the big plan to get rid of SFA in a single infographic. At least they're being honest from the get go and admitting this is a cost-cutting exercise.

http://www.raf-ff.org.uk/images/libr..._31_Aug_16.pdf

I hope when the survey comes out on the 5th Sept that plenty of people tell them what a silly idea this is. Although I'm sure the powers that be will find a way to massage the results!

http://www.raf-ff.org.uk/newsarchive...g+soon&start=0

So - What are your thoughts on the impact this will have to Service and Station life?

Links not working................

Just love the admonition that "Silence can be taken as satisfaction":=

Jack

'Renting near work'
 

'Renting near work'

Which would simply mean that the 'private market' will simply increase the local market rate in certain areas, if not all of them, to whatever they can get.

As happened at Brize when Lyneham closed. A 2 bedroom semi in Soweto, sorry, in Carterton is now about £875 pcm...:\

If it puts an end to the if not illegal (is marital status not a protected characteristic under equality law?) then frankly morally questionable discrimination against singlies i.e. those in PStat Cat 5, it will be a significant step forward. For too long home owning 'singlies' of all hues have suffered when doing weekly commutes and having to pay to live in during the week whilst maintaining a home, whilst those legally married or in civil partnerships but doing the same weekly commute and with the same domestic commitments pay nothing. Its almost as if the system is stuck in a time warp that expects unmarried personnel to live in rather than wanting a degree of balance to life.

However, the concern I have looking at the link is whether the options presented are discrete and fixed. What if you already have a home and are settled in a part of the county but posted elsewhere? Will they retain any form of service accommodation on base, SLA specifically? If they get rid of everything will personnel who have their own homesbe eligible to take advantage of any package designed to help you rent at your unit location if posted away from home? If not, it will force people to make some difficult decisions if they are posted away from a fixed home location (spouse career, kids' school etc) and then have to pay to rent as well, that would become very expensive very quickly. As such, I think there will always be a requirement for an element of SLA as a minimum even if they do everything they can to ditch SFA. Not sure how that fits in with th cost saving principles here though.

Some years ago I asked the question about discrimination against singlies; the EO lot (forget exact name) told me it was not illegal to treat married people better ! This was of course before civil partnerships. Looking at the link above suggested to me that they will keep SLA ( it is given as an option for some examples during the week). Maybe what this might stop is people living in SLA when they have a house down the road they could easily occupy!

So the unmarried or childless staish may live in Mess or a two-bed FAM and the SWO, with 5 kids, in that nice big house on large plot in . . . .

The way to bring equality to the marrieds/civ partnerships and singlies is not to destroy the existing offer for the marrieds, it is to bring a greater degree of equality/support for the singlies.

Make the SLA fit for purpose - en-suite and double beds the norm (something we've been talking about for 20 years), and removals that means more than the ability to hire a transit for a couple of days - or even worse for an overseas move.

There is a message in the pieces above - silence = satisfaction. Well my message to all of you is to fill in the survey (I think there's an announcement on DII saying it's out on Thursday 8 Sep).

And those of you who are asked by air officers how things are, for God's sake say something - just be polite about it. If AOCs are coming back into their HQs following AFIs (or just routine visits) believing all is well in the world, then an element of blame must sit with those being visited (from the Station Commander to the lowliest airman).

I've said before that we are moving towards an RAF with very few bases and more stability (or less opportunity depending on your perspective). To the best of my knowledge, affordability of non-Service accommodation is not one of the factors under consideration in looking at the Future Footprint of the RAF. Well God help anyone looking for accommodation near HQ Air!

Can I suggest all those still serving fill in the RAF FF Quality of life survey as well..

RAF. Surveys - RAF Families Federation

Remember - Silence can be taken as satisfaction :ugh:

STH, with you all the way on making SLA fit for purpose. Singlie or married, personnel are often put in appalling accommodation. I hate having to stay over in the Mess with it's rickety single beds, seemingly modeled on some instrument of torture taken from the Tower of London, dodgy plumbing and heating, lack of en suite and the general feel of the rooms that they've either been burgled or a hotch potch of 1950s furniture thrown in to resemble a sale in a thrift store. This is the twenty-first century and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect minimum standards regardless of age, rank or marital category. The SLAM accommodation I occupied during the week when at JHC HQ (Andover - Army HQ) was a prime example of what we should be aiming for.

That said, whilst not wishing to destroy the existing offer for married personnel, that would be very Corbynistic to bring everyone down rather than actually doing the right thing, the policy for charging PS Cat 5 personnel full accommodation charges for living in during the week when they own their own home simply has to stop. To put it another way, based on Grade 1 accommodation charges, it's the equivalent of a £2600 pay cut for senior officers, a £2100 cut for junior officers and £1600 for WO & SNCOs. Now tell me how that is fair when we are frequently reminded that a Posting Notice constitutes a legal order that we therefore can't ignore?

Need a token to complete the survey?

Bit different to 1968,my daughter was born out of wedlock as the saying goes and my partner was already married awaiting her divorce.I was living of the camp in a "caravan"but was not entitled to anything but medical treatment for my daughter!!Thats why I used to volunteer for duty elect and collect the rations etc!!!Went to RAFA for advice "sorry cannot help you"also SSAFA.Bought myself out.

FAM
 

I just put in my Service Number as the 'token'...and then 'expressed' my views that getting rid of SFA is, for me anyway, a BAD thing :=

The Future Accommodation Model survey can only be completed by current service personnel. When you click on the link to complete the survey you will be prompted to enter a valid token to participate. The token you need to enter is your service number. Once you have entered your service number in the ‘Token’ field then you should press the continue button to complete the survey. For optimum performance you should complete the survey using the Google Chrome browser.

Agreed. And worse, I felt that the questionnaire led you down the path of expressing a preference towards better choice that would be gained through renting in the open market. We've all created questionnaires at some point so understand how data can ultimately present whatever you want... it's clear where they want to go with this one.

seems a long time when we were encouraged and, for some required, to live on base

There's a section at the end for you to express your views. I recommend you use it to state that you feel the Survey is a joke, that it is biased and that the statement right at the end which says that 'No decision has yet been made' is as believable as that which says 'the total money available to subsidise military accommodation will not be reduced'. I read that to mean it will not be increased, so easy to see where any improvements are going to come from.

It's about 'The Offer', but this is making things worse when we are haemorrhaging people.