Executive Summary
National Audit Office Value for Money Report
- The Ministry of Defence (the Department) needs to recruit
around 20,000 men and women each year to the Armed Forces. The
Department draws its workforce from a broad section of society
including from areas of high unemployment and people with few
qualifications. Recruits are required to adapt to military life and
ethos and, where it is essential, give up a few of the freedoms
they enjoyed as civilians. In order to equip personnel with the
necessary skills and attitudes for the full spectrum of military
operations including war fighting, the Services instil a culture of
discipline; reliance on others; and acceptance of orders. Although
Armed Forces personnel can have a long, fulfilling career, the
majority of them will leave the Armed Forces at least 25 years
before the current national retirement age and will need and wish
to pursue a full second career.
- The Department believes that a robust and effective system of
resettlement provision is a fundamental pillar of personnel support
and a tangible manifestation of the Armed Forces commitment to be
an employer of first choice. Such provision should allow military
personnel to serve secure in the knowledge that they will receive
assistance to prepare them for life and future employment when they
leave the Services. Of course, much of the ultimate responsibility
for a successful return to civilian life rests with the individual
Service Leaver who needs to exploit the opportunities offered by
the Departments resettlement provision.
- The resettlement provision is tri-Service with a central
Ministry of Defence directorate determining policy and
administering the third tier of support which is mainly contracted
out to a career consultancy, Right Management, and is called the
Career Transition Partnership. The first two tiers of support are
provided by the individual Services the Royal Navy, Army and Royal
Air Force. We looked at the arrangements for resettlement in other
nations Armed Forces and found that the Departments overall
arrangements compared very favourably to those of other
nations.
- Some 24,600 personnel left the Armed Forces in 2006-07. Most
had served for many years whilst others left before completing
initial training. All Service Leavers have access to some
assistance in returning to civilian life. The level of resettlement
support is determined by the length of military service and is not
dependent on the rank of the Service Leaver. Those Service
personnel discharged for medical reasons are entitled to the
highest level of support regardless of how long they have served.
For the majority of Service Leavers, the resettlement assistance
consists of the following elements:
- Support and advice on resettlement from staff in the Royal
Navy, Army, or Royal Air Force;
- Coaching in CV writing and job interview techniques;
- Support from a career consultant before discharge and for two
years afterwards;
- Access to internal and external vocational and management
training and a contribution of up to 534 towards its costs plus the
cost of associated travel and accommodation;
- Up to 35 working days of Graduated Resettlement Time to
undertake training or other preparation for their return to
civilian life; and
- Briefings on housing and on financial awareness.
- Early Service Leavers[Footnote 1]
are not entitled to all of the above support but, since April 2004,
they get a resettlement brief, which signposts assistance available
from ex-Services welfare organisations and other Government
Departments; information on preserved pension rights; and access to
housing information. There is also a mandatory one-to-one interview
which, amongst other aspects, is used to assess an individuals
vulnerability to social exclusion and design a plan of action based
upon the individuals needs. Individuals assessed as vulnerable are
offered additional resettlement help.
- The Department is always looking to improve resettlement
provision within existing resources. Within its contract for the
Career Transition Partnership, it has set financially-incentivised
targets for improvement in in-house training take up rates and in
employment and service satisfaction levels which have generally
been met. The Department has improved the support for Early Service
Leavers and is working to increase the Individual Resettlement
Training Costs grant on a cost-neutral basis by reducing related
travel and subsistence costs. It has identified issues with the
take up by medically discharged Service Leavers and has resolved
them. The Department is working closely with ex-Service charities
to integrate some of their capabilities into resettlement
provision.
- Nearly three-quarters of Service Leavers reported that they
found the return to civilian life as expected or easier.
Surprisingly, it was those who had served a shorter time who found
the transition most difficult. A small minority of Service Leavers
do experience more severe difficulties such as homelessness.
- Two-thirds of the Service Leavers we surveyed said that being
in the Services had helped them in gaining employment. The
Department finds in its surveys of Service Leavers that 94 per cent
of those seeking work who used the Career Transition Partnership
resettlement services are employed within six months of leaving the
Services. Our survey showed similar results with only six per cent
of all Service Leavers unemployed and seeking work.
- Those Service Leavers eligible for the full resettlement
package are generally satisfied. In particular, they value the
support in writing CVs (86 per cent) and in interview techniques
(79 per cent) given in the Career Transition Workshops and the time
allowed for resettlement activities (88 per cent). Service Leavers
reported that some aspects could be improved, in particular, the
bureaucracy. Some nine per cent of entitled Service Leavers do not
exploit the use of the Career Transition Partnership resettlement
package. Many did so from choice either in exchange for a reduced
notice period or because they did not feel it relevant to their
needs. Others did so because of pressure of work or lack of
awareness. The number of Service Leavers who stated that they were
denied resettlement by pressure of work and operations is very
small but it can have a very marked impact on the individual. In
addition, other Service Leavers can have their resettlement
disrupted by pressure of work.
- The Department has been improving the provision of resettlement
support for those Service Leavers who serve less than four years or
are compulsorily discharged. This is in recognition that these
Service Leavers include individuals potentially more vulnerable to
unemployment and homelessness. For example, 16 per cent of Early
Service Leavers in our survey were unemployed and seeking work.
Inconsistencies in the quality of support offered to these Service
Leavers at Unit level undermine the overall provision made by the
Department.
- Most Service Leavers find suitable accommodation on leaving the
Services and, indeed, many of them have this organised before they
leave. The Department is increasingly encouraging Service personnel
to buy a home either for current use or for when they leave the
Services and this is one of the issues being considered in the
Strategic Remuneration Review. The Department provides a reasonable
level of support to those Service Leavers seeking accommodation
including a contract with a housing organisation to assist single
Service Leavers with finding accommodation. It could, however,
improve awareness of the support available. Some Service Leavers
who are unable to find accommodation and apply to a local authority
for social housing may experience difficulties because their
application attracts lower priority than other applicants. Some may
be entitled to assistance under the homelessness legislation but
face difficulties because a small number of local authorities may
not accept them as homeless until an order for possession has been
granted by the courts in respect of the property. The Department is
actively working with Department for Communities and Local
Government to improve eligible Service Leavers ability to access to
social housing.
- Those Service Leavers who are medically discharged receive the
Career Transition Partnership Full Resettlement Programme
regardless of their length of service. This entitlement can be
transferred to spouses and civil partners if the Service Leaver is
unable to take it up. In addition, those with serious injuries or
with mental health problems are given additional support. The
Department has made some progress in providing a more co-ordinated
support network to those Service Leavers with more severe injuries
or illnesses.
- The Army has to contend with particular challenges in
resettlement compared to the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.
The Army draws a large number of recruits from educationally and
socially disadvantaged backgrounds who, in many cases, also join
with weak basic skills. This is compounded by the nature of the
operational exposure of soldiers, particularly in recent years,
which places additional demands on both commanders and soldiers and
by the impact of a greater need for individuals to be mobile in
their location. Together, and notwithstanding the lengths to which
the Department goes to provide basic skills training, these lead to
some significant differences in the nature and scope of issues to
be addressed by the Army compared with the Royal Navy and Royal Air
Force.
Overall Value for Money
- The Department has sound management information on many aspects
of its resettlement provision and outcomes and, in particular, on
the performance of its Career Transition Partnership contractor.
The Department collates little information about the support
provided at single Service level, in particular, that at Army unit
level although the Army has plans to introduce a quality assurance
process.
- The Department does not collate comprehensive cost data on the
provision of resettlement services. In the absence of such data, it
is difficult to quantify the cost effectiveness of the Departments
resettlement support. We estimate the cost of resettlement in
2006-07 was nearly 115 million comprising some 36 million in direct
costs and the remainder for Service Leavers time in undertaking
resettlement. The extent to which resettlement services impact on
both recruitment and retention is difficult to assess and there are
additional complications in determining where Department-sponsored
life-long learning, which is of direct benefit to the Armed Forces
as well as the individual, stops and resettlement begins. It is
also difficult to separate out the impact of resettlement from that
of other conditions and benefits of employment.
- In 2006, around 1,600 (10 per cent) of personnel who had begun
the Career Transition Partnership resettlement programme decided to
remain in the Armed Forces for a longer period of service. The
Department therefore saves at least 40 million a year in
recruitment and initial training costs. It is difficult to
attribute the relative influence of the advice given by the Career
Transition Partnership. Nonetheless, the Department specifically
tasks the Career Transition Partnership with advising Service
Leavers of the benefits of re-engaging and for each person that is
persuaded to serve for longer there is a clear financial benefit to
the Department. The Department believes there is a net financial
benefit to the United Kingdom attributable to resettlement
provision arising from tax revenue generated from post-discharge
employment by Service Leavers and the avoidance of public-funded
benefits although it would be difficult to quantify this.
- The cost of resettlement support needs to be seen against the
Departments commitment to provide such services as part of its
overall remuneration package for Service personnel. The Department
offers a good range of resettlement support, using an appropriate
combination of providers. Most Service Leavers gain employment and
have an otherwise smooth transition to civilian life, and the
majority are happy with the quality of resettlement services. In
seeking to make further improvements, the Department needs to
ensure better and more consistent implementation of support at
first line and identification of those at risk of social exclusion.
The Department also needs to continue to work with other parts of
the public sector to ensure effective cross-government provision of
social housing and temporary accommodation to those Service Leavers
who are eligible.
Recommendations
Recommendation 1: The Department should review its
requirement for management information on all aspects of
resettlement. In particular, it should:
- conduct an exercise to identify the full costs of resettlement
including the costs of the support provided at the individual
Service level and then determine what cost information it needs to
collate on a regular basis;
- examine how it can demonstrate the impact of providing a good
resettlement package on recruitment and retention beyond its effect
on re-engagement; and
- extend its existing arrangements for seeking feedback on the
support offered, and employment and housing outcomes, to include
Early Service Leavers.
Recommendation 2: The existing provision of a
career consultant for each Service Leaver during resettlement and
for two years after leaving is an important one. The Department
should ask Right Management to develop its quality assurance
process for the career consultants and share best practice.
Recommendation 3: The Department should monitor
carefully its funding of the support of external training for
Service Leavers. In particular, it should:
- complete its work in asking its preferred suppliers of external
training to provide the costs of their courses with and without
accommodation and exclude from its list any training provider
company that does not comply; and
- examine the scope for combining the existing funds for academic
and vocational training (Standard and Enhanced Learning Credits)
with the Individual Resettlement Training Costs grant to fund
external training provided such training met the vocational
requirements of those credits.
Recommendation 4: The Department should identify
the scale of disruption to individual resettlement preparation
arising from the high operational tempo, including those Service
Leavers unable to attend resettlement activities or those forced to
do so late in the process. Whilst recognising the priority Units
necessarily give to current workload and operations, the Department
should investigate whether an appropriate balance between that work
and individual Service Leavers entitlement to resettlement is being
achieved. This should provide a better service to Service Leavers
and reduce any adverse impact on the reputation of the Department
and on recruitment and retention.
Recommendation 5: The Department should revise and
integrate, where practicable and appropriate, the administrative
processes underpinning resettlement with the new Armed Forces
personnel system, the Joint Personnel Administration system. In
particular, it should ensure that the processes are Service Leaver
focused; reliable and timely; electronic, where possible; and as
simple as possible. Approvals should be minimised to the level
necessary for financial control and the information needs of the
various parties should be met without creating undue delay in
access to resettlement services.
Recommendation 6: The Department should improve
the quality of the first line support in the Army. In particular,
it should:
- decide how best to deliver the support without incurring
unsustainable additional resource costs by considering the many
options such as first line staff having longer postings and more
appropriate job combinations; or making some jobs dedicated to
resettlement but covering more than one unit; employing civilians;
or moving some aspects of support to the second line;
- ensure the timely, mandatory training of all first line staff
to a common benchmark standard, including those Officers who
interview Early Service Leavers to ensure that they are competent
and equipped to identify Service Leavers vulnerable to social
exclusion;
- implement the new quality assurance manual; and
- increase the oversight of resettlement support independent of
the chain of command.
Recommendation 7: The Department should further
strengthen resettlement support for Early Service Leavers. In
particular, it should:
- monitor the resettlement outcomes of Early Service Leavers;
and
- ensure that all single Service Leavers are briefed on the
additional support provided by SPACES and, where individuals
consider their post-discharge plans are unsatisfactory,
particularly where they put them at risk of homelessness or social
exclusion, are offered referral to the organisation.
Recommendation 8: The Department should identify
which Service Leavers do not take up elements of resettlement
support due to lack of awareness and take any necessary action to
enhance the way it communicates the availability of such
resettlement support.
Recommendation 9: The Department should continue
to monitor the impact of the current and planned schemes introduced
to increase home ownership amongst serving personnel and, in
particular, assess the impact on the accommodation needs of Service
Leavers. It should use this information to inform its Strategic
Review of Remuneration.
Recommendation 10: The Department should continue
its dialogue with the Department for Communities and Local
Government to improve the process through which the small
proportion of Service Leavers who meet the appropriate statutory
criteria can secure assistance under the homelessness legislation
at the end of their Service. In particular, agreement should be
reached on how to minimise those cases, where, a small number of
local authorities may require possession proceedings to be
instituted before they will accept Service Leavers as being
homeless and owed a duty to secure accommodation. The Department
should also seek to obtain better data on the scale of the problem.
This homelessness legislation provides a safety net for people who
fall within a priority need group (for example, families with
children) and become unintentionally homeless. The Department
should continue to explain to Service Leavers that few will be
eligible for this type of support.
Recommendation 11: The Department should examine
the scope to extend the range of financial briefings to include
practical advice on household budgeting and debt.
Recommendation 12: The Department should build on
its current arrangements to ensure that all Service Leavers who are
medically discharged get an assessment to identify any additional
resettlement support they may need. In particular, the Army should
use its new Sickness Absence Management system to identify such
personnel early in the process. The Department should also consider
whether there is a need for a single co-ordination point for
resettlement provision to those Service Leavers who are medically
discharged, drawing on the approach taken by the Defence Medical
Rehabilitation Centre.
- [back from footnote 1] Early Service
Leavers are those who have served less than four years or have been
compulsorily discharged.