Continue to Work: The Transition Mapping Study 2017 - Evaluation Report

Abstract: In 2013, the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) published and launched the 2013 Transition Mapping Study (2013 TMS). The study was commissioned to develop understanding of the transition process for Service personnel returning to civilian life. In August 2017, FiMT published an update to their 2013 TMS report. The update report, entitled Continue to Work: The Transition Mapping Study 2017 (2017 TMS) had 3 primary objectives:
• To provide an understanding of how the impact of poor transition has changed in terms of cost and social impact.
• To provide a deeper understanding of issues related to skills transfer and the translation of these into post-transition employment.
• To provide a series of recommendations for supporting successful transition. Arkenford were commissioned to provide an independent evaluation of both the 2013 TMS report and the latest 2017 TMS report. The findings of the evaluation of the 2013 TMS have been published by FiMT and are available online. This report presents the results of our evaluation of the 2017 TMS report and was conducted between September and December 2017. This evaluation focuses on the following questions and was informed through in depth interviews with key stakeholders and an online survey.
• What are participants’ initial reactions to the 2017 TMS report?
• What is the relevance and perceived value of each section of the report?
• How is the stocks and flows model of transition understood?
• What is the relevance and perceived value of the report’s conclusion and recommendations?
Evaluation participants were recruited from a range of academic, commercial, charity and government organisations. An emphasis was placed on recruiting participants from organisations supporting
successful post-transition employment, in line with the focus of the 2017 TMS report.