Bit of a rant prompted by updating my recruitment spreadsheet, stand by…
Currently my sqn has a waiting list of over 40, growing by approx 10 per month. The sqn isn’t in the nicest part of the world and represents a fantastic opportunity for young people to make something more of themselves. I saw the footage of the “looting” on Oxford Street this week and also saw the cries for more youth clubs etc
There is obviously a huge demand for what we do but not enough resource. The 2 reasons we have a long waiting list are 1. We simply don’t have enough space! 2. Even if we did, not enough staff to supervise or train effectively.
What can we do about this? CEP hasn’t made an impact in my area. How do you show to RFCA that you need more space? Thoughts and commiserations welcome
My squadron has recently had the exact same issue. Not enough staff to train the cadets we already have and an expanding waiting list. I’ve done a lot to network with local squadrons to share quals and resources to deliver the cadet experience.
How many do you currently have on the books and average staff down a night? We have 56 on the books and rarely get 30+ a night. We have myself down, the OC and 2 other CI’s each night. We have our over 18’s doing a fair share of keeping the cadets busy. We have 1-2 new joiners every other month. Our building is tiny and if it came to it we would have to book a sports hall to split the numbers up. Ideally, we would like to get a bigger buildi…ooooh a flying pig
You can’t do anything. And if you do, nothing will come of it.
They won’t spent money on a bigger building and potential new staff will always seem as keen as mustard until they learn of all the hoops they have to jump through before they can start!
Best to forget about it and not let it stress you.
Can I say it’s nice to see your being sensible - a lot of Sqn just see the numbers and keep piling them in regardless of the consequence.
It’s a long game but there is a possibility. Is there interim solutions you can put into place whilst you build a portfolio on why it’s needed?
Some thoughts and will very much depend on your situation and opinions, and support from other local Sqns if you have any. And none of these I would see as ideal solutions but a way to help build up evidence
Could you have a intake night in addition to your normal parade nights or a general third parade night - this would potentially need assistance from other sector staff, could you do a flight a night, can you get an up to date assessment on the building for max capacity (because some of the current ones are ridiculous), if you have outside space could you request permission for a temporary structure outside for classroom space etc
Never say never - hqac has and will when presented with a strong case (and a long waiting time ……) expand Accommodation but they may pay for temporary bigger Accommodation in the interim depending on the circumstances.
It’s probably worth focusing on the staff side, then if something comes through in the accommodation you are good to go, or as others have said, you could look at a third night or other options.
I don’t now how it works with RFCA and requesting bigger accommodation, but I think it has to go via our WHQs/RHQs at least to start.
You’ve hit on a wider issue though. We don’t really seem to be incentivised for growth, in the way that say the Scouts are.
Some of that might be due to the nature of MOD sponsorship, which as far as I know is a set sum not a sum per cadet.
I accept that the non public funds do rise in line with cadet numbers but if the core funding doesn’t, then a larger CF leaves us either spreading funding more thinly, or making up the additional costs with non public funds - subs, sponsorship, etc.
(The latter isn’t necessarily a bad thing in my view, and we are very cheap for what we deliver)
My squadron usually takes 2 recruitments a year consisting of 13 people give or take. Then again we dont have loads of people wanting to join. But thats just something we do if it helps anyone
We have the same issue, in my mind the number one problem is getting new staff through our ridiculously long process. I have one new CI who did everything the organisation asked but, out of the blue, and with no notification was discharged from the applicant queue. This is the third time this has happened and we cannot get them reinstated. The 3 new staff have gone elsewhere. Everyone’s time wasted and the organisation looking stupid.
DBS - takes days now they just need to present ID
BPSS - takes a 30 mins to fill in, plus ID presentation, WHQ can then request references if required.
Pers 4-01 - maybe the hardest or organise depending on how available wing staff are to conduct.
I think you’ve made a really key point there. From the MOD, RAF and RFCA perspectives, they want to deliver cadet forces within a set budget to meet their goals for the year. They’re less interested that units are turning potential cadets away and more concerned delvering an effect within budget.
Does anyone know what the cost per RAFAC cadet from the RAF budget is? It strikes me that the amount we pay to Wing/HQAC in subs (£3.50 per month I think) is very low for what cadets receive and RAFAC is too cheap for what we offer. If there were mechanisms for funding raising and spending that money on Sqn buildings, accommodation for camps etc, that is a large untapped source of funding that could be spend on improving the cadet experiences and on expanding the number of cadets.
The other way of looking at it is we have 2 available funding streams. So maybe the way forward is for MOD funding prioritising items that only the MOD can really fund.
This is quite a limited range of things really: DTE use and ‘service’ OME primarily, and use of service facilities on stations… most activities we do could be co-funded, if they aren’t already. Even flying
We’ve had other threads on here discussing the Sea Cadet model, but would that benefit us in practice?
This is the key point and would require political direction from the Defence Sec level. Wonder what the vision for RAFAC in say 2030/40 is? Bigger, smaller?
Wonder what KPIs the commandant is held to? Although as FTRS his OJAR is pretty much meaningless!
Yes
I agree, the apply stage does take a month. Then you wait, and wait, and wait, and then the DBS is older than 3 months and they discharge the new applicant. At this point they won’t accept any pleas to reinstate and they expect you to start over.
Yes, everything was done and this is what is wrong with the system. I have an ex CWO who went straight to CI with no gaps. Over two years later she is still a probationer CI. A Cdt Sgt who went to CI with no gap, over a year later they are still a probationer CI.
There are too many hoops to onboard new staff, or at least, it takes too long. This is the one thing that holds the organisation back.
I think that might be a local system problem rather than the RAFAC - I’ve found the new system so much quicker.
Probationer CI - 6 months providing there is no issues (which is down to the OC to say yes or no not wing), but they can do 90% of things as long as they’ve done their Mandatory Training and Consolidation AVIP Day. (It’s the applicant CIs that are the most restricted because that means paperwork is being processed / buttons need to be pressed somewhere)
