ExFor+ have created a petition to raise the need for transitional employment for service leavers and Veterans, This is what ExFor+ has been setup for " a transitional employer for those leaving service".
Leaving service can and is often a difficult and potentially traumatic time for the service leaver and also their families.
There are many services and organisations that are established primarily with the legal structure of charity to provide support post discharge and even the MoD support whilst individuals are still in service, however there is a gap not a huge gap but it is a significant one.
The gap spoken about is between when an individual exits the gate and becomes a civilian, their employment stops, their belonging to an organisation stops, loosing who would have been almost the same if not like family, they loose their identity, they often leave with a shock to the system that can almost be described as the shock of capture but can also experience a free falling experience, as well as experiencing a grief reaction, at times there will not be anyone to speak with or catch them at the point of walking out of the gates.
This is why a transitional employer that is set up for veterans by veterans with an aim and goal of providing education, training and personal development allowing decompression from service related experiences and recovery from physical or mental health injuries until they are ready to move forwards in a direction that they are comfortable with.
If they move on and they struggle to maintain their employment or self employment our aim is to be able to allow them back in to the ExFor+ to further provide support and structure enabling them to grow and achieve their aims and goals is of immediate need.
At present the Armed Forces charity sector raise £863m per annum but our question is how much of this gets to the front-line, the current set up enables almost 4200 charities and organisations to sustain themselves and pay the wages of the huge administrative structures that they currently have in place that are a mixture of civilian and military staff and significant numbers of volunteers, We want it to be that when donations are made we want them to go to those who they are being made for and too, so our organisation being staffed by veterans to support veterans and the community they go directly to supporting veterans and the costs of the development of the employer ExFor+, This will also enable veterans to support their communities in which they live in creating significant and positive economical and social impact.
Please do help us get this petition heard in the House of Commons, Where we launched from on February 22, 2018.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/222088/sponsors/new?token=uqbSXqNUWF4tIDOTl0pl
Let us know your thoughts!!!