Forces in Mind Trust has awarded £500,000 to RAND Europe in partnership with Shared Intelligence and Meri Mayhew Consulting to investigate the delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant and wider support for the Armed Forces Community.

The two-year study will engage statutory and non-statutory bodies to examine how members of the Armed Forces Community are supported at a regional level across multiple policy areas such as housing, employment and health.

In 2011 the Armed Forces Covenant set out a promise from the UK to all UK military personnel, veterans and their families that none of them should be disadvantaged by their time in service. This project is the latest in the Our Community Our Covenant series and builds on three prior studies into the delivery and impact of the Covenant. This research will focus on the partnerships that deliver support to the Armed Forces Community, such as between local government authorities, non-statutory organisations, and the charity sector. The research team will also assess how different local government structures shape the delivery of the Covenant.

Tom McBarnet, Chief Executive (Acting) of Forces in Mind Trust, said “This study is another important milestone in delivering on the nation’s promise to our Armed Forces Community laid out in the Armed Forces Covenant. Echoing the Government’s Strategy For Our Veterans findings, we believe that, to improve the transition from the Armed Forces to civilian life, changes are required that include better collaboration between different organisations and veterans’ services. This research will give us a greater understanding of the collaborations that drive effective support for the Armed Forces Community across England, Wales and Scotland in order to improve future Covenant delivery and provision.”

Linda Slapakova, Senior Analyst at RAND Europe, said: “RAND is extremely pleased to be leading this research which will further build on the impact achieved through the Our Community, Our Covenant studies. Much of the support to the Armed Forces Community is delivered collaboratively, with different national, regional and local actors involved; we hope this research will advance our understanding of the roles of all these actors and how their collaboration could be further enabled and harnessed to deliver the best possible support to the community.”

Tony Blake, Director at Shared Intelligence said  “We’re delighted to be working with RAND Europe and Meri Mayhew to deliver this research. We know from our study, A Decade of the Covenant, published by FiMT last year, that there is a wide range of approaches around the UK in supporting members of the Armed Forces Community, which respond to local circumstances and structures. This new work will be a great opportunity to understand the ingredients for successful support and build recommendations to encourage adoption of good practice more widely.”

Meri Mayhew, Director of Meri Mayhew Consulting Ltd, said “This new research will continue to build on the strong evidence base established in previous Our Community Our Covenant reports, taking into account important contextual changes and by understanding how the wider ecosystem of support seeks to address potential disadvantage faced by members of the Armed Forces Community.”