it does raise the question though - how much has the organisation cost in the last 5, 10 and 15 years?
15 years ago the org was on a “high” then ~10 years ago (2014) there was a “pause” in gliding. That would have saved a lot of £££
reduction in glider hours = less maintenance, fewer (if any) VA days claimed by VGS Staff, no fuel to pay for, (the Vikings, the tugs and the Landrovers), dare i even include the lower level stuff like the VGS canteen would be money saved.
then there is all the Sqn Level claims that are associated with a VGS - no F1771/Accts4 to claim, no VA to claim, no F6424 to pay out for.
Some may argue 5 years ago this recovered but almost three years ago Covid hit.
a massive drop off in costs - Sqns up and down the country stopped using their buildings so reduced utility bills.
drop off a VA claims, and with it HTD, Accts4 and F1771s for the 100s of events taking place each weekend.
No uniform issued. rounds fired. camps to put on.
Now we’re looking at a stripped back 2024!
(i am not suggesting all the above costs come from the same pot, i would be surprised if they do, but as “associated costs” that come with doing what we do there have been areas and reasons why money has been saved/not paid out - to such a degree when would an accountant consider the “baseline” cost of running the organisation be taken from? 2019 prior to Covid-19?)
There is no money saved, as there isn’t the money to stage these events in the first place. That’s what I’m being told by someone very well placed. It’s less about ‘overhaul of policy’ and more to do with a lack of funds.
I understand the other cadet forces are in a similar situation. The Sea cadets have harbour bound one of their training ships & the ACF have done similar cut backs.
I think part of the push to be integrated more with the CCF is the ccf doesn’t get funds out of the ATC GPF so are cheaper to run as they pay more than they get. (Probably also have less complaint paperwork generated as it’s dealt with within the school as primacy).
You would like to think they keep the same if not more AT camps based out of Fairbourne and Windermere especially since they are RAFAC owned sites. From our Sqn point of view we will have had 3 different cadets attend 3 camps at the 2 sites this year, at Easter half term, Summer holidays and the October half term coming up.
I know Drill and Ceremonial camp has gone for 2024 with a review to how that shapes up for 2025/if it does. There is a lot of risk involved with that camp and expense of having 300 cadets plus CFAV at one site.
Never been a fan personally but Junior leaders surely needs to take a hit in terms of delivery/end product and possibly even QAIC.
I agree with the Regional/ Wing support message however that could go further and look at sector. As RAFAC we should be “as one” with both ATC and the CCF, part of the remit of combining the 2 should be for the CCF to offer the private school out for a week camp during the summer holidays.
If you think private schools have some of the best facilities locally, usually accommodation and catering for around 100 if not more if not using the school facilities but tented accommodation, sport facilities, classrooms and IT Suites and most own their own buses. It could be run by either Wing/Region in theory to maximise the potential but also the staffing ratio however an idea could be to use a private school CCF detachment as a “base”. Over a week camp say 4 flights of 25 cadets could take part in, Shooting, fieldcraft, sports, drill, music (if applicable), cyber, classification training (if applicable), MOI, First Aid, radio, and synthetic ground training. Could also depending on the location use it for DofE exped training as a starting and end point. Add onto this tours to local places of interests, air museums or the usual bowling etc or even a local RAF station tour using the transport of the school with one flight per day visiting.
Would the above take alot of organisation, yes however not much difference to your Wing competition day with a few added extras, if you had a set template that could be repeated year on year it would be easy enough once in place with healthy competition, “Flight points” and enjoyment, over a week you could achieve alot of the progressive syllabus without too much expense or “getting in the way of the RAF”
Junior leaders did take a hit. The travel budget was slashed and they reduced the weekends by almost half, but made them longer. Same training time for less travel cost.
Not going to happen - CCFs both traditional independent schools & CEPs are private enterprises who already pay more into the cadets than they get out (RAF section have to buy their own PTS badges as RAFAC can’t afford to supply them).
Even if this would be possible, Army & Royal Navy would call dibs first leaving the air cadets at the bottom & back to square one .
I wonder if anyone at the centre has considered the impact this will have on DofE? That’s a big chunk of the Gold Residential’s gone in one fell swoop.
It all ties in with the same picture. Volunteering is lower than it was pre-Covid, with lower levels of satisfaction, and organisations making it harder to volunteer too. Link is from May, but still feels very relevant.
