As an independent charity, we provide support and guidance on matters affecting the daily lives of Naval service families, acting as an advocate when appropriate to resolve complex issues.
As subject matter experts we continue to contribute to academic research and implementation of The Armed Forces Covenant providing evidence and the Naval families’ perspective to shape change and influence policy.
One of the ways in which we capture evidence about how you are finding life as part of a serving family is by carrying out anonymous surveys. We also promote surveys and studies that other agencies and academic research teams are leading on, if they are relevant to serving Royal Navy and Royal Marines and their families.
Help inform policy changes by completing the following live surveys:
Researchers from Oxford Brookes University are conducting arts-based research exploring the educational experiences of children with additional learning or support needs and/or disability from UK Armed Forces or veteran families. This research is funded by The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust under the MOD Armed Forces Family Fund Research Programme
These sessions will be informal, small group art workshops, at a location convenient to you, where you can tell the team about your child’s or your own educational journey. Materials and refreshments will be provided, and no artistic ability is needed!
Parents or carers of a Service child aged 4-18 with additional needs, or recent school leavers aged 16-25 who were Service children with additional needs can take part in these workshops. To take part, contact Claire Lee: Email: clairelee@brookes.ac.uk / Tel: 01865 603398 or use the link below.
Here are examples of where your voice has helped to shape support for RN and RM families.
During 2024, Forces Children Scotland (FCS) worked with children and young people to create a child-friendly emotional cycle of deployment resource.
The visual of the rollercoaster was developed by the children and young people themselves to help explain the different stages of the cycle.
During the development, the NFF’s The Emotional Cycle of Deployment in our Parental Absence Guide helped to inform discussion with the children and young people around different stages of deployment, including anticipation of loss, withdrawal and renegotiation.
We are delighted that children and young people from all families, wherever they live, now have access to this interactive, child-friendly emotional cycle of deployment.
The rollercoaster is supported by accessible resources for children, young people and parents to help support their child’s mental health and wellbeing at each stage of the ride: The Deployment Rollercoaster
NHS England have a statutory duty to engage with patients and they have established a Patient & Public Voice Group especially for the Armed Forces community, to better understand your unique needs.
The Naval Families Federation are part of this PPV Group, ensuring that the anonymised evidence and feedback you share with us about NHS England services is presented to those who manage and deliver the policies that impact upon the whole community. You can learn more about this in their latest Impact Report.
In May 2023, the Armed Forces community were acknowledged in the Further and higher education – residency criteria for access to financial support: consultation analysis.
We presented evidence to the Scottish Government using the experiences you shared with us about access to funding in Scotland. Their response details some of the complexities in this area for our families and states that “Scottish Government officials will consider this matter further”. We continue to advocate on this subject – to share your experiences get in touch with us at contactus@nff.org.uk.
In 2021 we contributed to the Immigration Fees Public Consultation.
Following the consultation and contributions from specialists in the armed forces immigration world, the government announced a fee waives for personnel who meet certain requirements on termination of service. More details on this can be found here NFF – Immigration Fees Public Consultation Non-UK Military Personnel: The Outcome!
Armed Forces families are subject to ‘Appendix Armed Forces’ of the immigration rules and previous successes in this area include the elimination of serving families paying the immigration health surcharge (IHS), which saves them (from January 2024) £1035 a year, on a standard 5 year limited leave to enter visa which is how the majority of spouses and children enter the UK, this saves them a massive £5175! The IHS fee until January 2024 is £624 per application, per year.
A new protocol was launched in June 2022 to help ensure that motor finance works better for those who are assigned overseas.
After being contacted for advice by Service personnel, our team took the experiences shared to the MOD and the Defence Relationship Management (DRM) team, alongside other stories and feedback from the wider Service community.
We are available 09:00 – 17:00 Monday to Thursday and 09:00 – 13:00 Friday. We are closed during weekends and Bank Holidays. For any out-of-hours emergencies, use the link below for help.