The West Midland RFCA Podcast

What Is An RFCA? Inside West Midland RFCA

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0:00 | 37:15

In this episode, we explore the work of West Midland RFCA and the role our organisation plays in supporting Reserves, Cadets, employers and communities across the region.

Through interviews with our Head of Estates, Deputy Chief Executive, Head of Engagement and one of our Defence Relationship Managers, the episode looks at the three core pillars at the heart of RFCA work across the United Kingdom: estates, cadet support and employer/community engagement.

Whether you are familiar with the world of Defence or completely new to it, this episode offers an introduction to the people, partnerships and practical support that help make that work possible across the West Midlands.

Timestamps:

  • 0:50 - Introduction: What does an RFCA actually do? 
  • 2:45 - Head of Estates, James Bellamy, discusses WMRFCA's Estate Portfolio
  • 12:01 - Deputy Chief Executive, Lesa Horton, chats Cadets
  • 24:11 - Head of Engagement, Siamha Butt + Defence Relationship Manager, Phil Sinclair, reflect on what Engagement means @ WMRFCA
  • 36:06 - Outro

Links:

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https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-west-midland-rfca-podcast/id1870819622 

SPEAKER_02

Hello everyone, and welcome to the second episode of the West Midland RFCA Podcast, a monthly deep dive into all things West Midland Reserve Forces and Cadets Association. I'm your host, Tom Quee, Comms Officer here at WMRFCA. And first of all, huge thanks to everyone who listened to our initial episode. It's been wonderful to see the response and to read the many emails from you listeners out there. And if you're enjoying the show and want to give back in some way, please make sure you're subscribed on whatever platform you listen to. Leave us a five-star review wherever you listen, and tell anyone in your life about the show you feel might be interested. Now, in our first edition, we focused on a single theme, International Women's Day, hearing from five women across the region about service, opportunity, and what the Forces community has meant to them. And if you haven't checked that one out, do go back right now and listen. You can pause me anytime. I'm not going anywhere. But today we're widening the lens a little and asking a simple question. What actually is an RFCA? As it's one of those organizations that a lot of people may have come across in some form without necessarily knowing what it is or what it does. You may have seen cadets out on parade, for example, you may have heard about reservists through your workplace, you may have even seen a business proudly declaring its employer recognition scheme award. But are you aware that there is a singular organization spread across 13 regions that helps to tie all that together? Well, that's us. West Midland RFCA specifically, one of 13 RFCAs across the United Kingdom, united in our work, which sits broadly across three core pillars, those being supporting the cadet experience, employer and community engagement, and managing the reserve estate. And in today's episode, we will be exploring each of these in conversation with the people who make it happen. Speaking to our head of estates, head of engagement, deputy CEO, and one of our defence relationship managers to get to the heart of our work here at West Midland RFCA. So let's kick off our series of interviews by discussing the foundation of the RFCA offering, estates. Our estates being an impressive portfolio of properties to provide the vital footprint and hub for all reserve and cadet activity in the region. Now it's easy to overlook estates because it often sits in the background, but in many ways is the foundation of the entire experience. Before any training can happen, before volunteers arrive, before cadets walk through the door, someone has to make sure that that place is safe, legal, secure, and fit for purpose. So here's my chat with our head of estates here at West Midland RFCA, James Bellamy. So this episode is all about the three pillars. All the RFCAs are made up of these three pillars. So what estates is one of these, right? Estates is one of the main things. Why is states so important to the wider work of our what we do here?

SPEAKER_01

Well, it's an important part because we manage and support the infrastructure element for the reserves and volunteers that use uh the estate uh and also support any active operations the MOD might have or taskings across the estate for both training and ongoing ops, etc. So that's why from the pillar perspective, estate it's important and managing the estate overall.

SPEAKER_02

The actual range of sites and the the distance that you cover is intense, it's incredible, really. And I've only been here a few months and I remember early on seeing a map of where all the reserve sites are. So can you give us an idea of how wide-ranging the portfolio is?

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, I mean, from Westmill's perspective, it's a complex portfolio of properties with a mixture of reserve centres, cadet training centres, uh, and then cadet buildings as well. The predominantly reserve sites are army-led with one single reserve site as well. Typically speaking, the buildings are 70s and 80s in terms of age, but we've got some older ones and some newer ones. There's 33 reserve sites, there's four cadet training centres, and then 109 just standalone cadet sites, etc. And again, within those, you've got the Army of the Navy, Army Cadet Force, Royal Air Force Cadets, and then there's also a few C cadet detachments as well, which uh are within the mix. I mean, as again, in overall point of view, there's 65 leased sites within that number, and there's a site as all as well that's a triple SI site, which is a site of scientific interest. And we also manage a fleet of 80 vehicles which supports cadets as well as staff as well. So it is a wide picture in terms of what we've got to cover up.

SPEAKER_02

It's huge, it's huge. And how does good estate management make a difference to reservist cadets, adult volunteers, you know, the whole wider community?

SPEAKER_01

I mean, it's important because we play a vital role in ensuring that sites are safe and compliant to occupy um with the focus on sites that support active MOD operations first and foremost. And in addition, you know, working towards improving reserve and cadet experience by ensuring sites are attractive locations with suitable equipment and support both recruitment and retention of reserves overall.

SPEAKER_02

And what sort of challenges? I mean, that there's many challenges in many different ways, I'm sure. What sort of challenges come across for you improving these sites across the region in general? It's probably an important point, really.

SPEAKER_01

But the the actual role is typical estates management role, which would be across just both public sector and private sector in essence. So there's it's the same issues, you know, it's keeping sites safe, compliant, prioritizing works with the funding that you've got, contractor management and staff resourcing and balancing that. And what does a typical week look like for your team if there is such a thing? Um pretty typical. I mean, with the team's got like a series of contract governance meetings which it has to attend to. There's some assurance works where it goes out onto sites and looks at what works have been done, as well as doing what I would call them like client meetings where you'd have a relationship building, etc., understanding what their needs are, what what we're trying to put forward, etc. So there's that piece to it. And again, one key push for me for the whole team is about engaging with the users of the estate and holding good communications and relationships because that's how we get you know things moving and progress things forward.

SPEAKER_02

We're trying to pull back the curtain with this episode a little bit in terms of the RFCA. So, what are some of the things that people might not realise in terms of your responsibilities in the estates team?

SPEAKER_01

Probably the big thing is for us is health and safety compliance and risks. Um, I mean, that's that's kind of the crux of where we are at the moment because of the condition of the state, is trying to manage that piece. And then linked with it is managing temporary closures of sites where we need to uh on temporary basis uh and where the RFC is responsible for it. Both are challenging and both have a lot of competing requirements from you's perspective and our perspective.

SPEAKER_02

And what are some of the biggest misconceptions then that people have about managing estates in an organization like this? I mean, you said like it's typical estate stuff for a certain example, but what are the particular issues with RFC or particular problems?

SPEAKER_01

I think for us is that uh well to say anything about joke you but that we can fix everything tomorrow. Yeah, well the reality is it's managing expectations and having clear and honest discussions with sites, and also that we're not blockers. Uh, we're here to try and focus and support where we can and enable things. Um we're not there to you know stop people doing things. Um we're there to do it because it's trying to make it as safe as possible.

SPEAKER_02

And can you share an example of a project or improvement that really made a visible difference to the people using a site?

SPEAKER_01

I think a very good example is the the opening of JCC Stafford, um the new cadet site. I mean it's a fantastic facility and capable of supporting so much in terms of cadets. And I think even on the opening day, it was a really great opportunity to see how the the cadets were utilising that site as well as listening to positive feedback and comments that were coming back from the both the users and wider community. And that follows very much across any refurbishment or new building that we've got. Is that feedback is great to see and really rewarding for the team actually?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no, that that site's amazing, and um we're actually going there soon to speak to some of the cadets for a future episode. And if people do want to see more about the site already, they can go onto our LinkedIn, our Instagram, and we've put a few videos up there, and it it it it does look my colleague Jamie got to go. I didn't get to go, unfortunately, but it does look incredible. Um, what are the main pressures facing estates today? I mean, whether that's funding, aging buildings, sustainability, changing user needs.

SPEAKER_01

A mixture of all that, to be honest. Um, there's always a need for more funding, and there's always a hard decision to make and prioritize whether what money we've got. Um, the estate is aging and therefore comes with assets that are reaching towards the end of their useful life. And it's about trying to manage that and communicate that with users and build those expo, manage them expectations with them so that you know it's not a shock per se. But it's always a challenge, yeah, in sense of money, we always want more. Um you're never going to be able to get the endless amount. And again, from a wider piece, you know, there's a number of reviews ongoing by the MOD at the moment in terms of how the reserve forces operate on site, and that includes infrastructure as well. So they're looking at how the wider piece looks.

SPEAKER_02

And in terms of like modern standards changing the shape of your work, I'm talking about accessibility, energy use, etc. How's that been?

SPEAKER_01

Um, again, all falls into the mix, and again, it's about how to prioritise all that and make that fine balance between what money you've got, what the need is, um, and requirement, etc. But yes, they're all challenging points for us that's we have to carefully manage.

SPEAKER_02

And you've been here six years, so are there any moments you can think of where you've seen a building or facility go from underused or outdated to something that people are genuinely proud of?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, and I I again it falls to upgrades and refurbishment of the cadet huts. I mean, not that you don't get out reserve sensors, but you see more with cadets. You know, recently done some refurbishment work at two sites in Sutton and Coalfield, both of them in quite dilapidated states, um, but we're able to go in and do fixing faults, redecoration works, new ablutions, new kitchens, and then just seeing that afterwards and seeing the cadets walk into that space, you know, it's that reward moment almost and seeing that you you're making that difference.

SPEAKER_02

Ablutions as well, fancy word. I like that. That's like showers and stuff, is that right? Yeah, yeah, just to clarify.

SPEAKER_01

What are some of the biggest priorities for estates over the next few years? I think key bits for us is securing additional funding, particularly in terms of life cycle replacement projects, um, and work with the MOD's reserve estate optimization programme and team to review the estate and make the necessary changes and improvements that fits with defence requirements overall.

SPEAKER_02

And uh what about you, James, in this role? What do you most enjoy about working in estates in WMRFCA?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I think for me it's very varied nature in terms of the work itself, it's a varied estate, uh, and I have a genuine interest in kind of buildings and how they're put together and the nuances of all that, um, which I do get uh you know kind of buzz out of. Yeah. And then that daily challenge to improve and make better the estate overall, which is you know that push to kind of to do that, and knowing that it supports a small part of defence, um, and you know, it helps youth development and cadets.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, of course. And finally, then when you step back, what do you think people should understand most about the role that estate plays in supporting defence and the community life in the West Midlands?

SPEAKER_01

I think the key bit for me is that we're here to help and support activity and ensure that people are doing that in a very safe way. As a wider team, you know, we're trying to do our best with what resources we've got and doing in the most effective way as we would as property professionals.

SPEAKER_02

James, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. So that's the estate side of the picture, the places, the infrastructure, the practical foundations that make so much possible. But of course, one of the biggest reasons that the work matters is because of the people it supports. And that brings us neatly on to cadets. Now, cadets is one of those words that a lot of people have heard, but perhaps not everyone fully understands. They may have a rough idea of uniforms, drill or parade nights, but the reality is much broader than that. At its heart, the cadet experience is about giving young people opportunities, confidence, skills, responsibility, friendship, a sense of belonging, and for many, experiences that they simply would not get elsewhere. Here in the region, that support happens on a significant scale, across a wide network of sites, adult volunteers, and cadet forces. And while WMRFCA does not deliver the cadet experience directly, that's down to the Army Cadet Force, ACF, more on them in the future episode. We play a key role in helping support the environment around it, making sure that the people delivering it have what they need to do so effectively. So to explore that side of our work in a bit more detail, I spoke to our deputy CEO here at WMRFCA, Lisa Horton. Thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you very much for inviting me to spread the word of the cadets.

SPEAKER_02

Now, a lot of people, you know, hear the word cadets and they think they know what it means, but how do you explain cadets to someone who's completely new to it?

SPEAKER_04

Well, cadets are young people, usually teenagers, who join our voluntary youth programme, sometimes linked to the military, sometimes linked to the police or the fire service. It's not the same as being in the army, the air force, or the navy. You don't sign up to fight. Um, and it's more like a structured club where you learn skills like teamwork, leadership, discipline, shooting, first aid, and confidence. A lot of people hear cadets and uh think it's about becoming a soldier. It's not. It's not about that. Most cadets that join their cadet units don't actually go ahead and join the military. Yes. A lot of them want to be doctors and engineers or paramedics. Paramedics I hear a lot that may be linked to the fourth aid. But at its core, cadets is about giving young people confidence, skills, and experience that they probably wouldn't have anywhere else.

SPEAKER_02

So when when I joined the WMRFCA a few months ago, I was very naive on cadets and I didn't quite realise how big the cadet footprint is across the Midlands. Can you just give us a bit of info on that, please?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I kind of share that because when I joined, I didn't really anticipate how many cats did we have. Um, the cadet footprints across the West Midlands is huge, it's substantial with circa 11,000 cadets and an extensive infrastructure supporting youth development. The region hosts army cadets, REF cadets, navy cadets, and uh sea police and a combined cadet force as well.

SPEAKER_02

They're in schools. Yeah, combined cadet force, that's slightly different, isn't it? Like, how does that change the experience? We spoke in a past episode to two people who were part of the Phoenix Collegiate Combined Cadet Force. Go back and listen to that episode. But yeah, speak to me about the combined cadet force.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, so the combined cadet force, normally abbreviated to the CCF, is a little bit different because they're the ones that are based inside the schools rather than being in separate community unions across the region. So instead of turning up a detachment in the evening, it's normally built into the school life, school timetable, and ultimately it will be linked to the school itself. You will find that their instructors are their teachers, or somebody that comes in and volunteers within the school. It does change the experience slightly, but not really on purpose. You're still going to learn those still core values: leadership, teamwork, and confidence. It's just a little bit different than actually parading on an evening in a squadron or detachment.

SPEAKER_02

And it must be stressed that we're not delivering the cadet experience here in a sense at the RFCA. We're supporting it. So can you speak about the difference between supporting cadets and the actual cadet forces delivering the youth experience?

SPEAKER_04

Well, the RFCA provides essentially the back office support funding, infrastructure, adult recruitment that enables all the cadet units to operate. It includes managing the adult volunteers, the cadets, providing and maintaining accommodation or cadet huts, arranging transport and assisting with the recruitment to ensure that the forces and the cadet units can operate. The cadet forces themselves, these are the ACF, the CCF, the C cadets, and the air cadets, deliver the actual youth experience. And they provide the training, the adventure training and the mentorship that all the young people probably need. Instructors, and these again are adult volunteers, deliver training in teamwork, leadership, communication skills, community skills through activities such as annual camps, adventure training, and weekly drill sessions.

SPEAKER_02

And you mentioned Cadet Force Adult Volunteers, their CFAVs is the acronym that people might not be aware of. These are obviously hugely important when it comes to the experience being delivered. Can you speak to me about what kind of people make brilliant Cadet Force Adult Volunteers and your thoughts on how important they are?

SPEAKER_04

So the adult volunteers are absolutely core to the cadet experience. Basically, without them, there is no cadet experience. They are the ones that do all the training, they plan, they organise the camps, they sort the transport and deal with all the paperwork and actually deliver all of the activities. So they are kind of the engine, I guess, behind everything that happens. Do you need to remember that they're giving up their own time, they're giving up evenings, weekends, and holidays, and this is on top of their normal jobs, just to make sure that young people get those opportunities. But it's just not about organising things. They're mentors as well. They are people that encourage cadets, pushing them a little bit further when they need it, and helping them ultimately grow in confidence. A lot of the time, cadets may only see the fun side, but behind the scenes, there's a lot of time and effort and care from the volunteers that are actually making it happen safely and correctly. They're part instructor, part organiser, and occasionally a part-time minibus driver. Of course. They don't just support the cadet experience, they are the cadet experience, and without him, we just wouldn't have that.

SPEAKER_02

And safeguarding is obviously such an important part of any youth organization. How seriously is this taken across the cadet forces?

SPEAKER_04

Safeguarding is taken extremely serious. One of the most important parts for the cadet structure. At the end of the day, you're working with young people, often in activities that involve travel and outdoor environments and responsibilities. So making sure that they are safe and properly looked after is really the core of our safeguarding planning. It affects everything, affects how things are planned, how adults are trained, how situations are handled, and absolutely everything really. Adult instructors are trained in safeguarding. They do have training in safeguarding, and that safeguarding is refreshed every year. For parents, especially, um, they need to know that their child is safe when they come to their cadet experience and making sure that they're safe and there are people around them that are safe to deal and manage with children. Everything else, training, camps, activities, this only works because of this foundation of safety and safeguarding that we've put in place.

SPEAKER_02

And is there a story of a young person whose journey through cadets has stayed with you?

SPEAKER_04

There has indeed. Despite only being with the organization of a short time, I actually got the opportunity to go to annual camp and have been to a number of awards ceremonies. And one story that struck me was about a young cadet, a young female cadet, joined the cadets at 13, very shy, didn't converse very well, very low on confidence, joined the cadets and learned all those core aspects of leadership and communication skills, resilience, all her training with first aid and rifle and drill. And one day she was actually on a bus and a man collapsed and nobody was going to help this man. And she quickly got out of a chair, assessed the situation, and started CPR because all her assessment proved that he wasn't breathing and his clearly his heart wasn't going. She performed CPR on that man for 45 minutes, which anybody who knows that's done CPR is absolutely amazing for an adult. Only a wee dot, not much taller than five foot. And she did that until the ambulance crew turned up and took over. So, and that was all down to her training. Yeah. And and she, you know, she just stepped in there, did what she had to do, kept the man alive until emergency services were able to go. Absolutely phenomenal.

SPEAKER_02

Incredible, incredible. Now, speaking about yourself briefly, from a leadership point of view, what are your main priorities when it comes to cadet support in the region?

SPEAKER_04

I mean, our main priorities are the government figures, targets, and and this is about increasing the cadet footprint across the whole of the country, not just the West Midlands. This is based on a 30% increase by 2030. And this is across all services as well, Army, Navy, Air Force. Additionally, there is a new programme that's out, well, not so new now, it was introduced in 2012, the cadet expansion programme. And this aims to deliver the same benefits of cadet training, but within schools and within the state sector, not just the private sector. And this promotes the military ethos, the enhancing students' self-discipline, teamwork, resilience, and all that good things that improve life in general. A further effort is getting more volunteers through the door. We all need volunteers, which we do struggle to recruit because a lot of adult volunteers don't fully understand what the cadet experience is all about. Many potential volunteers are deterred by the process. There's a lot of red tape at times. We're working to adjust that. And obviously, the volunteers that we have are taking on additional responsibility that can potentially lead in burnout. So what we're trying to do is to increase our adult volunteers to enable that fantastic cadet experience that's being delivered, but share that load for safe practice.

SPEAKER_02

And finally, if a parent listening or a guardian or anyone is listening and they're curious about the cadet experience, what would you say to encourage them to help them explore cadets locally?

SPEAKER_04

Cadets is more than just a youth program. It's a safe, structured environment where young people develop confidence, leadership, teamwork, and those practical skills that they probably wouldn't get anywhere else. It offers really exciting stuff like adventure training, community service, and skill building. And it lets the child grow in ways that school just can't. Being part of the cadets also encourages that. Responsibility and discipline and social connections with both peers and mentors that support them. It's a chance really for a young person to explore new challenges and so they can discover their potential. So my my advice to parents that are looking at the cadets for their young person is reach out to our website that gives the locations of all our cadet units in the West Midlands, but also look on social media, look out for events that are up and coming, such as insight days, introduction nights. Just go and contact your nearest cadet unit and ask them, you know, what's going on. Is there a website? But ultimately, if you see a cadet in the street, just go up to them and ask them about their experience, and I'm absolutely sure they will tell you all about it.

SPEAKER_02

Lisa, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02

So far, we've looked at the physical foundations of the organization for estates and also the opportunities created through young people through cadets. But there is another major part of RFCA life, that being engagement. Because WMRFCA is not just here to support people within defense-facing settings. A huge part of the role is also about building links beyond that, too, with employers, with civic leaders, with local communities, with partners and organizations across the region. In other words, helping connect defence to the society that it exists within. And that matters because the stronger those connections are, the better the experience becomes for everyone. Reservists are better understood and supported by employers. Cadets gain stronger links with their communities. Organizations learn more about the value that service brings. And the wider public gets a clearer sense of what this world actually looks like in practice. It's work that is undeniably less visible than a parade square or a building project, but it is hugely important work too. It's about advocacy, relationships, trust, and helping different worlds understand one another a little better. So finally, to discuss engagement, I sat down with our head of engagement, Simon Butt, and defence relationship manager, Phil Sinclair. Simon, could you introduce yourself, please, your role and what engagement means here at WMRFCA in the broadest sense?

SPEAKER_03

So my name is Simon. I head the engagement team for the West Midlands Reserve Forces and Cadets Association. My role is quite a varied role. It involves engagement looking after two distinct teams, one's employer engagement and one is the comms and PR team. And engagement at West Midlands RFCA, not only employer engagement, it combines the wider engagement piece. So in terms of the employer engagement, we work with businesses, employers through means of something called the Armed Forces Covenant. We engage with them in order to create tailored pledges as a means by which they can support defence. And in terms of wider engagement, this is where we reach out to civil communities, make them aware of the opportunities in defence. And again, more so the same thing. We try to align both these different strands for the growth of the reserves and cadets.

SPEAKER_02

And Phil, could you start by introducing yourself, please, and your role?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, of course. Uh Phil Sinclair, I'm what is referred to as a defence relationship manager. I'm based here at West Midlands RFCA, but I'm part of a more national organisation where employer engagement teams are embedded across all 13 regions of the RFCA regions representing defence relationship management. And my role is to raise awareness of the benefits attached to becoming a signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant.

SPEAKER_02

Phil, Simon touched on there engagement being a wide term, and the strand of yours that you engage with is employer engagement. Can you explain in brief what that means?

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so we use the Armed Forces Covenant as an engagement tool to encourage businesses to become signatories and thus raise their profile within the Armed Forces community. And we then develop that relationship through the employer recognition scheme. And the idea is to become trusted partners with businesses in the region to support their engagement with defence to mutual benefit.

SPEAKER_02

And Saima, as you say, engagement is a very wide term. What are the strands that you define within it and how do they work together?

SPEAKER_03

So, as mentioned earlier, and as Phil has said, the employer engagement piece, which is absolutely huge, where we go out and reach out to the different employers in the different sector of them, the different employers that we have across the different sectors. And also, as I said, with civil communities, and that will be we can reach out to youth organisations, female, BAME, regional governing bodies, all those key elements of society where we can raise awareness of opportunities in defence. I mean, I see this connection as being vitally important because it connects the military with society. It helps to build awareness, as I've said, around the reserves and cadet piece and the cadet force adamant volunteers. It helps society to recognise our unique contributions that our military defence personnel bring to any organization or any to any uh to an employment or to any civil organization, as well as um helping employers to understand how they can work with us in a collaborative way to help us grow and sustain those two key elements.

SPEAKER_02

And Phil, one of the focuses of your work is the value that service levers bring to the workplace. So can you just talk about what reservists, veterans, and anyone else connected to the service bring to a workplace?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, so I think probably the easiest way of explaining this is the members of the armed forces community have various values and standards embedded into them as a result of their service and their association with the military, whether that be as a serving member of the military or or family members of those who are serving. And those values and standards are often aligned to business values and standards. In particular, the armed forces community will bring with them transferable skills that are valued by business, and those skills uh will have been learnt during the the uh the time of service or or connection with the armed forces and are directly transferable, both in terms of hard skills. So, for example, you know, engineering skills and qualifications, the the armed forces in terms of their um employment qualifications that cover every aspect of society, essentially, um, and certainly pretty much every aspect of industry in one form or another. They often come with recognized qualifications that are applicable uh in in um the um business world as they are uh within the military. They also bring softer skills, for example, task orientation, selflessness, a can-do attitude. You know, the the list is uh quite extensive, and that only just covers a microcosm of what they will bring to them. And these are attitudes and characteristics that are being crying out for in business.

SPEAKER_02

And what do employers sometimes misunderstand about support in the armed forces community?

SPEAKER_00

Again, showing support to the armed forces community is not about giving them a place at the front of the queue. There is often an assumption that the armed forces covenant is about giving advantage. No, it is not, it is about removing disadvantage. People who serve in and those who have served in the armed forces will have come across various barriers from time to time, whether that's access to schools, access to health, access to um employment uh ultimately when they when they leave. The covenant seeks to remove those barriers and level the playing field. Key takeaway is that it's not about giving advantage, it is about removing disadvantage and allowing uh members of the armed forces community uh to have the same degree of access that any other citizen would have.

SPEAKER_02

And Simon, so employer engagement, as we say, is just one of the strands. So, how do the relationships with civic leaders, employers that we mentioned, public bodies, community organizations, how does that translate into real opportunities for reservist cadets, cadet force adult volunteers?

SPEAKER_03

Well, firstly, it it brings that whole defence piece, all that narrative, straight into those communities that may have been underrepresented, such as your youth, female, BAME, regional governing bodies, LGBT communities. We work not just by giving a narrative and say this is what it is and this is how you're supposed to, this is the opportunities. We look to be very hands-on and we have our colleagues across the three single services who will actively go across to the to these organizations and deliver leadership development training, who will set up different exercises and will kind of test or work with these groups to show what being in the military can be. So it creates a very hands-on experience and an experience that people will remember and they can relate back to their normal day-to-day. So the relationships that we have with the with the wider engagement again is to raise awareness. It's that whole of society approach. But at the same time, we still work with those organizations and we still want the leaders of those organizations and those communities to work with us through signing the Armed Forces Covenant because that's the basis of our relationship. It sets the key, the definition of how we work, and tells us the strength of their relationship too. We also, as I say, work very closely with the regional influences, so the Lieutenancy Office, the Chamber of Commerce, FSBs, all those key industries that branch out and can advocate for us on a much wider level as well.

SPEAKER_02

And what are some of the most effective ways that we as an organization help shine a light on the work of reservists and cadets and help connect society with defence?

SPEAKER_03

So, one of the main ways that we're doing the employer engagement piece is that we have something called the employer recognition scheme. So we work with our employers and we kind of um particularly those employers that have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and we work with them to make to see how they're fulfilling their pledges and aid them and support them in that. We have different levels. We have a gold level, a silver level, and a bronze level. The bronze level is more so I suppose you just sign the covenant and it's just you're showing you've got your support there. Silver level is you're actually actively working towards those pledges and you've got a supportive HR policy in place, as well as perhaps looking to have a few reservists or veterans, not exclusive to that, or you're working towards supporting Cadet Force Adult Volunteers and Cadets. That's clearly shown in the work you do. Then you have the goals who are doing all of that and a lot more, and doing the main body of advocacy for us to their own networks. So we recognise and reward their behaviour by means of an award ceremony where we present them with awards and recognize the the key contribution they make to society, whether, and this will be whether they're employers or whether they're organizations and civil communities, civil leaders we work with in the wider engagement piece.

SPEAKER_02

Phil, Simon mentioned the ERS, the employer recognition scheme. So, to you, what does meaningful support from an employer actually look like in practice beyond just signing a pledge, putting a logo on the website?

SPEAKER_00

Good question, Tom. Um the uh positive policies that encourage recruitment from the armed forces community, uh, policies that uh encourage and promote reserve service, that provide flexible working, uh flexible working environment to encourage volunteering as a cadet force adult volunteer, or to allow a military spouse to adjust uh work routine to accommodate the extra pressures faced as a result of uh a partner's deployment over an extended period of time. That those sort of policies are hugely beneficial to individuals.

SPEAKER_02

And can you think of an organization in the local area that really gets this right? What makes them stand out?

SPEAKER_00

We have several. I mean, those that are effectively our um Gold Award Association members are exemplars. I have many, and it would I'm I'm a little loath to pick out one, but I I'm I've got to say, for example, uh New Model Institute of Technology and Engineering in in Hereford, fantastic organization that does so much for the armed forces community in a variety of different ways. From my perspective as a defence relationship manager, uh they have largely been responsible for generating the awareness of the existence of the armed forces covenant, but probably more importantly, the existence of the employer recognition scheme and how that benefits organizations and can benefit defence. And, you know, along with Herefordshire Council and a couple of other organizations have been largely responsible for the something like 175 armed forces covenants that that exist in the uh county.

SPEAKER_02

And just a final point from you, Phil, on employer engagement. If there is a business leader listening who, you know, likes the sound of what we're talking about but has never actually engaged with us before, or the ERS or Armed Forces Covenant, what's the first step?

SPEAKER_00

Well, there there are several avenues. Um, Google, the Armed Forces Covenant, Google Employer Recognition Scheme. That will take you to um a.gov website, and various links in there will give you explanations about the Covenant and uh the employer recognition scheme, and there's a contact uh element, and that will get you directly into defence relationship management, and that contact will eventually find its way to us here in the Westmidlands RFCA. Alternatively, use the Westmiddons RFCA website, the engagement website. Uh there are details in there of how to um uh contact employer engagement. Alternatively, email wm-e at rfca.mod.uk, and that will get you directly into our office.

SPEAKER_02

That's great. We'll put all the links down below, of course. So, Simon, Phil, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. So there we have it. That was episode two of the West Midland RFCA podcast. And hopefully it's given you a clearer picture of what an RFCA actually is and how many different strands of work sit underneath that name. From estates to cadets to engagement, what ties it all together is support. Often behind the scenes, often away from the spotlight, but absolutely central to the experience of reservist cadets, adult volunteers. Huge thanks to all of the guests for taking the time to speak to me for this episode. And whilst this episode has been about our RFCA work in general, we are also working on a future episode coming out soon, looking specifically at the history of West Midland RFCA. And if you're familiar with our LinkedIn page, we post a history post every Friday. I have been deep in the scrapbooks and I've got a lot to discuss there. So uh definitely listen out for that one. So if you enjoyed listening, do make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any future episodes. And if you haven't yet heard our first episode, our International Women's Day special, that's available now wherever you get your podcasts. And with that, all that's left for me to say is I've been your host, Tom Quee, comms officer here at West Midland Reserve Forces and Cadets Association. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll see you next time.