Abstract: Following on from the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund’s report Meeting the Needs of the RAF Family (2015), which provided a detailed investigation into the size, profile and welfare needs of the RAF ex-Service community, in 2017 the RAF Benevolent Fund commissioned research into the size, demographics and welfare needs of the serving RAF and to test proposals for addressing them. The work involved desk research (to confirm the size and profile of the serving RAF community), an online survey with a representative sample of the serving RAF community (to assess the scale of welfare needs) and qualitative interviews and focus groups (to explore the nature of people’s problems and how they could be helped).
While most individuals achieve the transition to civilian life smoothly, some face significant challenges. Although numerous support services are available to those who need them, …