As an evidence-based organisation, everything we do at AFF is driven by data. We collect this in a variety of ways, including the enquiries we receive into AFF, our surveys and our feedback forms. We use this information to provide information straight from Army families to the people who need to hear it.
We understand you might be concerned about giving us your evidence, but we treat your data with the utmost respect, always following our privacy policy, which strictly adheres to UK GDPR. All our data is anonymised in a way that means you can never be personally identified. If you have any questions on the way AFF uses your data, you can email us at data@aff.org.uk.
When you contact us with an enquiry, we log this on our enquiries database. This helps us to keep track of your case but also allows us to see if we are getting an increase in enquiries about a particular subject. Recording the location of an enquiry helps us to build up a picture of where certain issues may be occurring. At the end of each month, we analyse these enquiries and look at themes or emerging trends. This provides us with evidence which we then use to raise your issues with other organisations. The more evidence we have, the more we are able to amplify your voice on issues that affect Army serving personnel and their families.
AFF provides vital evidence on behalf of Army serving personnel and their families to external bodies such as Government departments, the NHS, local authorities and the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We work hard to ensure that the issues experienced by the serving community are communicated and understood. Below is further information on the evidence that AFF has been able to present and the responses received:
AFF has provided both written and spoken evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee on key issues that affect serving Army personnel and families.
AFF provided both written and spoken evidence to the enquiry, and supports the report recommendations, which in particular evidence the need for continued and substantial funding for accommodation, and an improvement in the communication that families receive on accommodation.
2023 – AFF written evidence and Government Report on Service Accommodation
Together with the Naval Families Federation and RAF Families Federation, AFF provided both written and spoken evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee on the proposed expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant and was able to detail the ways in which it is currently working well to meet the needs of Service personnel and their families, but also to highlight areas where it is in need of improvement.
2025 – Written Evidence – Tri-Families Federation Response on Expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant
2025 – Oral Evidence – Tri-Families Federation Response on Expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant
Using data from families, AFF responds to external consultations and requests for evidence from parliamentarians on issues that affect Army serving personnel and their families.
Each year, AFF, with the Naval Families Federation and RAF Families Federation, contributes to the Ministry of Defence Armed Forces Covenant Report, which gives the opportunity to highlight the successes, challenges and issues that serving personnel and their families experience. You can read our observations from the most recent and previous Armed Forces Covenant Reports at gov.uk/government/collections/armed-forces-covenant-annual-reports
From the evidence you give us as a result of your enquiries, or from speaking to us at our external engagements, we are able to identify the key issues that are affecting Army serving personnel and families. However, often we don’t have as much information as we need to be able to raise it further, and want to find out more! We therefore commission surveys on the issues that we need to examine further.
No current AFF surveys.
External research into the military community is extremely important for AFF as the findings and recommendations from academics, other research bodies and other specialist bodies feed into policy and decision making at all levels, in every Government organisation. Therefore, being part of the evidence gathering, analysis and findings/recommendations cycle is vital for getting the issues and concerns across that affect Army families.
AFF works closely with universities, think tanks, not-for-profit social research organisations and the research body of the Army/MOD to provide evidence from families. In addition, AFF specialist staff are regularly invited to be part of focus groups, subject matter expert advisory panels, continuous professional development events and evaluation boards. We also commission our own research as part of funded projects and programmes to do a ‘deeper dive’ into some of the issues that affect families, and provide recommendations of our own for wider policy work.
Below are current research projects and programmes that AFF is working with.
In order to support schools engaging with military families, AFF engages with the other two families federations and other agencies working in the same sector as a collective to provide CPD days for schools. ‘Creative Forces Days’ keep the momentum for the need for change going through collaborative steps which enable AFF to put forward the voice of Army families and improve the lives of Army children by developing the understanding of those working with them.
AFF teamed up with research organisation RAND Europe and the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) in 2023 to better understand how military life affects family finances. Current and ex-Service personnel and their spouses and partners were asked whether military life affects their ability to easily bounce back from any financial setbacks.
In 2023, the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust awarded funding for the Positive Futures for Military Partners review commissioned by the three families federations.
The review considered the employment support available to military spouses and partners, and how it could be best communicated. The review highlighted areas of development and gaps in partner employment which have helped to inform policy development in the support offered by the families federations.
It also scoped the next steps in the development of Forces Families Jobs (FFJ). The recommendations have been implemented and a new-look FFJ website has been created.
Oxford Brookes University has received funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust to conduct research to explore the educational experiences of children from Armed Forces backgrounds who have additional learning or support needs and/or disability. AFF was invited on to the Supporting All to Thrive steering group and has been able to highlight some of the issues you have raised around additional needs and disability educational support and provision. Visit SATT project for more information.
The Children’s Society has received funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust to explore, learn and work with services that support children and young people who have caring responsibilities within the Armed Forces community. AFF has been invited onto the Nexus National Network group to help support them with this valuable work. Visit The Nexus Project for more information.
If you have an interest in the work of AFF and would like to speak to us about any aspect of our research, evidence or data, we can help. We are keen to collaborate with research professionals in order to gather data and evidence and publish it widely to show how the unique aspects of Army life affect our communities.
As an independent charity, AFF represents all Army serving personnel and their families, wherever they are in the world. However, due to our privacy policy, we are not able to provide personal details of families who would be willing to take part in research activities.
However, we may be able to support your research project by promoting details on our communication platforms, or by providing guidance or support from one of AFF’s policy or regional specialists. Your project would need to:
We consider all research projects on an individual basis, so would ask you to contact us in the first instance to discuss in more detail.