UNSUCCESSFUL MILITARY TRANSITION COSTS THE UK ALMOST £114M

The Forces in Mind Trust launches seminal transition mapping study

The Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT), established through a Big Lottery Fund endowment to improve the transition of Service personnel, and their families, from military into civilian life, today [14th August 2013] launched its seminal ‘Transition Mapping Study’ report at RUSI, 61 Whitehall.

The study, conducted by The Futures Company, reviewed how the entire transition process from military to civilian life currently works and how it is viewed by stakeholders and recent Service leavers.

The information has been used to develop an economic model which calculates the total cost of poor transition to the UK as a whole at £113 million in 2012.  The Report includes the calculated costs to the UK for every aspect of poor military transition, including mental health issues at £26 million and alcohol misuse at £35 million. It also contains over 40 recommendations on how to reduce the number of these poor transitions.  These are relevant to Government, the charity sector and individual Service leavers.

Recurring themes and findings throughout the Report are:

  • Experiences of transition vary greatly, depending on personal attitude to transition  as well as social context
  • Differences between military and civilian life are vastly underestimated and the cultural differences can come as a surprise
  • The extent to which a Service leaver’s family is able to help is often reflected in transition success, but is rarely considered
  • Financial demands of civilian life can come as a shock, and a Service leaver’s individual life skills overall can be under-developed
  • The range of help for Service leavers can be difficult to understand and navigate

The event was hosted by FiMT’s Chairman, Tony Stables CBE, and included a comprehensive overview briefing from FiMT’s Chief Executive, Ray Lock.

Ray Lock commented: “The insight gained into the transition process as a result of this Report will enable the Forces in Mind Trust, and the wider Armed Forces community including Government Departments, to build upon the work we already have underway with our projects such as Future Horizons and Victor, and research programmes, for example on ex-Service personnel’s housing requirements being undertaken by Stoll and Riverside.

“We now have the evidence to say why transition fails, and what that failure costs.  So we can work out how to prevent failure in the future, and, because we recognize that funding is not unlimited, how much it makes sense to spend on the solutions.

“This type of evidence-based research into the transition process has never been done before and sets a benchmark for FiMT’s future programmes and projects.”

Please click this link to download the report. If you would like a hard copy  of the 90-page Report, this can be requested through enquiries@fim-trust.org

For further information, please contact:

Talia Cohen at The PR Office: tcohen@theproffice.com or 020 7284 6957

About The Futures Company

The Futures Company is an award-winning, global strategic insight and innovation consultancy. Unparalleled global expertise in foresight and futures enables The Futures Company to unlock new sources of growth for clients through a range of consultancy, global insight and a range of subscription solutions.http://thefuturescompany.com