Op ASCEND – Careers After Service

 
Op ASCEND is a free, government-backed service to support veterans in growing their careers.

Whether you’re a veteran seeking employment or an employer looking to attract skilled veterans to your workforce, find out what signing up to the Op ASCEND service can do for you.

For more information visit: https://careersafterservice.campaign.gov.uk

Give Us Time: New Motorhome Breaks Now Available

Give Us Time have had a new donation of breaks from the team at Sponsored Breaks. These are 3-day/2-night stays in their fully kitted out motorhome, which sleeps up to 4 people. The motorhome is based in Wolverhampton, so does need to be collected and dropped off back to site, and any drivers must be between 25 and 70 with 2 years’ experience of driving and less than 6 points on licence. Unfortunately no pets are allowed.

The dates available include some school holiday dates for Easter, half term, and the summer holidays:

• 4/5/6 April
• 11/12/13 April
• 18/19/20 April
• 25/26/27 April
• 23/24/25 May
• 30/31/1 May-June
• 4/5/6 July
• 25/26/27 July
• 30/31/1 July-Aug
• 2/3/4 Aug
• 6/7/8 Aug
• 9/10/11 Aug

How to protect yourself from Loan Sharks

 

How to protect yourself from loan sharks

A loan shark – or illegal money lender - is someone who lends money illegally without proper authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

That means if you borrow from them, they don’t have to follow the rules – they can decide how much you pay back and when.

These criminals are not always easy to spot - they can be a friend, a fellow service member, even a senior officer.

Whoever they are, they will usually appear as a friendly face, offering you a favour. They may tell you that what they are offering is nothing more than peer-to-peer lending and their offer may seem hard to resist.

But very quickly the situation can spiral out of control, and you could find yourself having to pay back much more than you initially borrowed. You might even be subjected to threats, violence and intimidation if you struggle to make a payment.

There are some signs that you can look out for, which may indicate that an agreement has crossed the line from peer-to-peer lending into more sinister and dangerous territory.

Have Your Say: Accompanied Established Long-Term Relationship Overseas Pilot Survey open until 14 Apr

 
To take part in the Accompanied LTR(E) Overseas Pilot Survey please click HERE (survey open from 08 Jan 25).

More information is available on Sway HERE.

Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust: Latest round of grants under The Armed Forces Families Fund - Early Years Programme

The Early Years programme is back for 2025 and we’re excited to share that applications are now open!

Part of the MOD’s Armed Forces Families Fund (AF3), The Early Years Programme will award grants between £5,000 and £80,000 towards projects that enable early childhood education and childcare settings to meet specific needs of young service children.

What’s the programme all about?

The Early Years programme is designed to help Armed Forces families access good quality early childhood education and childcare provision close to where they live or serve.

The programme is designed to address barriers that service families may experience in accessing good quality childcare for their preschool aged children and will support projects lasting up to two years that can meet one of the four outcomes:

• Expanded capacity in early years settings, allowing more service children to attend.
• Enhanced learning environments that better support the educational development of service children.
• Improved staff skills and knowledge through targeted training and professional development.
• Establishing collaborative networks and shared resources through clusters to effectively address the needs of service children.

Serve and Protect Credit Union - March update

📢 Free financial webinars this March from Serve and Protect - don't miss out!

🌍 Eco-Friendly Ways to Save Money

📝 Budgeting 101: Take Control of Your Money

🚀 Credit Score 101: Boost Your Score

🔍 Before You Borrow: Things to Know

🔗 Register here: https://sandpcu.co.uk/webinars

Mindfulness can be a simple and effective tool to live in the moment and reduce financial stress 😊

The Families Continuous Attitude Survey 2025 is open!

 

The Families Continuous Attitude Survey 2025 – which hears from Service spouses and civil partners about their views on Service family life – is now open!

Take part in this year’s tri-Service Families Continuous Attitude Survey (FamCAS) and help Defence to understand your experiences and thoughts across a broad range of areas. Your feedback will help Defence to make changes and develop policies to better meet your needs.

The survey invites a random sample of civil partners and spouses of regular serving personnel to take part. To see if you’ve been invited to complete the survey, and to access the survey, please check the online eligibility tool.

The eligibility tool and survey work best with Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge and will ask for a token/access code. This refers to your partner’s Service number, which is required for security reasons only. Please be assured that all survey responses are anonymous.

The closing date for FamCAS is Monday 7 April 2025.

How can FamCAS benefit me and my loved ones?

Recruit for Spouses Roadshow, Colchester – Tue 25 Mar

 

Come and join Recruit for Spouses for a brew and a slice of cake while learning all about what RFS has to offer.

One of our reps will be there to chat about our programmes and how we can help you thrive:

• Mental Health & Wellbeing
• Foreign & Commonwealth
• Coaching & Mentoring
• Recruitment
• Resources
• and much more!

Don't miss out on this chance to connect and discover new opportunities!

Head over to the portal to sign up: https://portal.recruitforspouses.co.uk/users/sign_in

Forces Employment Charity - ‘Empowering You’ employment workshop, Manchester and online – 10-12 Mar

Empowering You is brought to you by the Forces Employment Charity, from Monday, 10 March, to Wednesday, 12 March 2025. It is a hybrid three-day employability and confidence-building workshop for spouses and partners, including military women, and those who are separated, divorced, or bereaved. Please note military spouses and partners of any gender may attend.

Your top 5 reasons to attend:

• Receive a free one-to-one mentoring session with a corporate mentor
• Join us in person in Radbroke where Barclays will host our sessions
• Hear from employers about pathways into employment and regional job opportunities
• Understand the value that your transferrable skills can bring to employers
• Expert sessions delivered by our Families Employment Advisors

For more information and to register, please click here

DIO Families First newsletter – issue 24

 

This issue and previous issues can be read online at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/defence-infrastructure-organisation-service-family-accommodation

Blue Light Card offers - February round-up

 

Member Days:

Blue Light Card’s Member Days are back and bigger than ever before. Each year, attractions across the UK will close their gates to the public, on selected dates, and open them exclusively for our members. Expect smaller crowds, free parking, selected discounts on food and drink. Our first Member Day at Alton Towers takes place on Friday 7th March so don’ t delay in getting your tickets.

Find out more about Member Days here: Blue Light Card News

Mother’s Day campaign:

From the first-time mum and work mum, to foster mums and stepmums – in the run up to Mother’s Day, we celebrate all those who mum. We have a range of offers so those in the Blue Light community can celebrate the mother figure in their lives. Make the most of deals with brands such as eFlorist, SpaBreaks, Moonpig and many more.

Big Saver Weekend:

Taking place between Friday 28th March – Monday 31st March, our Big Saver Weekend is a four day sale-event, providing fantastic discounts to the Blue Light Community. From fashion and homeware, to everyday essentials and gifting – there are Spring savings for everyone to take advantage of.

New Offers:

Give Us Time - March breaks for Forces families

 

Give Us Time have provided a round up of the breaks they have available for Forces families for March below:

NEW!

21 – 28 March

Bird’s Nest, Carrick Shore, SW Scotland – property is for 2 people only Airbnb link


AVAILABLE AGAIN DUE TO CANCELLATION

17 – 21 March

Letham Feus, Fife, Scotland – 2 bed lodge WITH HOT TUB!

https://largoleisure.co.uk/holiday-parks-scotland/letham-feus-park


STILL AVAILABLE – ALL SLEEP UP TO 6 PEOPLE

Defence launches the Families Hub – an information portal to help navigate Service family life

The Families Hub – which signposts to information, support and organisations to help navigate all stages of Service family life – has launched.

For the first time, Armed Forces families will be able to access a “one stop shop” digital platform – which signposts to a wealth of information, support and organisations – to help you navigate Service family life.

The Families Hub is for all Armed Forces (Regular and Reserve) families and personnel – from the moment of entering the Forces, through to leaving.

Visit the Families Hub today and explore a range of topics, including partner support, housing, health and wellbeing, childcare and finance.

Headspace App – Five FREE family & friends subscriptions available for Army Personnel and Army Civil Servants

 

Click poster to enlarge. 

Army personnel and Army civil servants are eligible to sign up to Headspace for free, and also to extend this free subscription offer to five friends and family.

To sign up, please go to https://work.headspace.com/britisharmy/member-enroll

Please use your @mod.gov.uk, @armymail.gov.uk or @csmail.mod.uk email address to verify your account when prompted.

Headspace says, “We make mental health support accessible to everyone, no matter their background or experience. Through our flagship Headspace app, we provide mindfulness tools for everyday life, including meditations, sleepcasts, mindful movement and focus exercises. Our enterprise offerings combine this experience with a human-centered model of care, with coaching, therapy, psychiatry and EAP services under one roof. Our team of experts ranges from mental health clinicians, to Emmy award-winning producers and data scientists, working together as one to help millions of people around the world be healthier and more productive.”

Month of the Military Child – April 2025

To find out more about this year’s Month of the Military Child, please visit: www.neversuchinnocence.com

You can watch the Dandelions music video, a song written by the Armed Forces Children's Choir for Month of the Military Child, on YouTube: Dandelions Music Video.

Give Us Time: respite breaks for military families - 2025 dates are live!

 

Click posters to enlarge.

The charity ‘Give Us Time’ offers accommodation for respite breaks for UK military families. No referral is required from Welfare for families to sign up. Please see the posters for more details and the current March dates, but more 2025 dates are available on the website: https://giveustime.org.uk/

For more information email: enquiries@giveustime.org.uk

Applications open for the Service Pupil Support Programme

Exciting update for UK schools supporting service children!

The Service Pupil Support Programme is back and bigger than ever, now offering grants up to £150,000!

Part of the MOD’s Armed Forces Families Fund (AF3), the Service Pupil Support Programme will award grants between £5,000 and £150,000 to projects supporting service children along their educational pathway, and to reach their full potential.

What’s the programme all about?

This year, the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust (The Trust) is focusing on supporting schools and local authorities across the UK with projects that meet one of four themes.

• Closing the academic gap.

• Support for service pupils with SEN/D, ASN,ALN.

• Mobility, deployment, and separation.

• Low numbers of service pupils.

New for this round is the theme of ‘mobility, deployment and separation’ in recognition of the challenges these issues can present to service children.

Once again, The Trust are encouraging schools to come together to maximise the impact of projects. The Trust are offering two routes to funding depending on the number of service children you are working with. You can find full details of the programme, eligibility and how to apply on the Trust website.

Service Leavers' Guide - latest edition

T​he updated version of the Service Leavers' Guide has now been published on Gov.UK.

Please click the link to read this edition online.

DIO Service Family Accommodation (SFA) Communications Update - 21 February 25

Reporting Damp and Mould

Tackling damp and mould in SFA remains a top priority for DIO and our suppliers. Over 9,000 homes have already benefited from the delivery of damp and mould works since the taskforce stood up in 2023. In response to the works delivered, reoccurrence of damp and mould has been addressed in circa 85% of cases.

It is important that you report all cases of damp and mould and to let us know of any reoccurrence of the issue so that we can continue to tackle this. Please also see our guide for families that outlines helpful tips to prevent damp and mould developing in your homes.

We are aware of a recent IT issue which may have affected your ability to log damp and mould issues using the online repairs form on Pinnacle’s website. This has now been resolved; however, if you have used the online form to log an issue and have not yet received a follow up call, please call Pinnacle on 0800 031 8628, selecting option 1.

Any issues of damp and mould can also be reported by calling Pinnacle on 0800 031 8628 or emailing repairs@pinnacleservicefamilies.co.uk

SFA Roadshows

Sign up to a DIO Service Family Accommodation Roadshow in 2025

Going Forward into Employment (GFiE) - latest Civil Service job vacancies for Service Leavers, Veterans and Spouses/Partners

 

The following vacancies are now open for applications under the GFiE Scheme:

GFIE- 416 – HMRC Criminal Investigator Officer

• Multiple vacancies – UK wide
• Job Description
• Flexibility Payment information sheet
  
• Closing date: 4 Apr 25

​GFiE roles are available specifically to people who served in the Armed Forces, or be in your resettlement period and due to leave the Armed Forces within a reasonable time frame or a Military Spouse/Partner (your current partner must still be serving or was discharged within the last 12 months).

To apply, please submit a completed EOI Form (also see Guidance notes) and an up to date CV to GFIE@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

For more information on the GFiE scheme please go to: A complete guide to GFiE – Veterans, Military Partners/Spouses and Service Leavers – Life Chances – Going Forward into Employment (GFiE) (blog.gov.uk)