A legal claim brought by serving and former Royal Marines and British Army personnel over alleged exposure to asbestos during training in Latvia has been settled without any admission of liability by the Ministry of Defence.
The case arose from exercises Saber Strike (SS18) in 2018 and Baltic Protector (BP19) 2019 at Skrunda-1, a former secret Soviet radar
ITV News has published a substantial investigation into the experiences of women in the Armed Forces, including allegations of sexual assault, harassment and failures in the way complaints have been handled.
The investigation, Her Fight: Are Women in the Armed Forces Safe?, is available to watch on ITVX, accompanied by a detailed series of reports on the ITV News
I have no intention of offering a view here on the conduct of the war with Iran, or on what the United States or anyone else should do about the Strait of Hormuz. Strategic and operational questions are outside BAFF's remit, and not for this website.
But as an individual member, I make an exception for one extraordinary aspect of
At this stage we are not aware of any BAFF ex-service member who has received an “Overpayment of Armed Forces Pension” letter from Equiniti Paymaster.
As the Forces Pension Society (FPS) have pointed out, the letters say Equiniti has “received instructions to revise your AFPS benefits…..as payment of AFPS benefits are made from public funds, Equiniti Paymaster are
The new Armed Forces Commissioner website brings together information about the Commissioner’s role and the help which the office can provide.
What does it mean for our serving members and their families? What does it mean for BAFF itself?
The Armed Forces Commissioner replaced the Service Complaints Ombudsman (who replaced the "Service Complaints Commissioner") on 1 April 2026. The new
New trench system at Eastmere Village STANTA - GOV.UK - Landmarc Support Services
I've seen criticisms of the DIO's £4.4 million investment in new trench training facilities. Some points have been understandable, others not so much.
There is certainly a legitimate debate about defence priorities, including the need to improve service accommodation. However, realistic trench training is not an optional
Afghans who worked with UK forces were wrongly refused relocation and left facing years of danger, delay and uncertainty, according to the House of Commons Defence Committee.
The Defence Committee’s report into the Afghan data breach makes sobering reading. The accidental disclosure of personal details relating to thousands of Afghans who had supported UK forces was a serious failure with
A new campaign, Shoulder to Shoulder, has been launched by senior former military leaders and veterans to encourage Parliament to modify the 'Troubles Bill' draft legislation dealing with Northern Ireland legacy cases.
The campaign website includes a suggested message to send to your MP, and also gives the opportunity to sign up for future updates.
The website is at:
It's no longer 'Almost goodbye', it IS now goodbye to BAFF (2006) Ltd – but not goodbye to BAFF.
The paperwork for voluntary liquidation of the company has now been submitted.
All this is purely to remove the rising annual cost of maintaining a registered company. Instead we are forming an association whose constitution is on similar lines to
An important legal case concerning the pension rights of Armed Forces reservists is due to return to court later this year.
The Forces Pension Society (FPS) reports that a hearing has been fixed at the Court of Session in Edinburgh for 8 October 2026, following the Ministry of Defence’s continuing attempt to challenge the successful claim brought by former
The Sun reports that a soldier has been convicted at court martial after sending pictures to his (RAF) girlfriend from a secret mission.
According to the paper, "The trooper, known only as Soldier A, took his personal phone on covert ops and had pictures of secret bases, prisoners of war and enemy fighters slain by his comrades."
He was sentenced
The Ministry of Defence has announced a new UK-wide study into cancer among serving personnel and veterans who have served since 1990.
The research will use existing NHS records, so no action is required by serving personnel or veterans. Initial findings are expected to be published annually from 2027.
Current evidence suggests that overall cancer rates among Armed Forces personnel
Following the recent AFPRB award and its headline increase of 3.6% for the current year, the 2027/28 armed forces pay round has now begun.
Each year's review process formally begins with a "remit letter" from the Defence Secretary to the Pay Review Body chair.
Mr Jarvis has now issued the 2027/28 remit letter, which thanks the Board chair Julian Miller
The Afghanistan Inquiry has released further witness statements and transcripts.
The fullest media report at the time of writing is by Tom Ball in The Times - SAS called me Taliban apologist, officer tells Afghanistan inquiry.
Allegations involving British or allied forces in Afghanistan are inevitably highly sensitive and controversial, including for BAFF itself.
Strong differences of opinion inevitably
A report in The Sunday Times highlights continuing concerns about the condition of some Service Family Accommodation (SFA), linking the experiences of military families to the Government's decision to defer part of its planned investment in defence housing.
The report by Dominic Hauschild, Defence Correspondent, and Lottie Hayton, centres its investigation on the experience of Army wife Leah Emmett, whose young daughter
According to a recent story in the Telegraph, the Ministry of Defence is still supposed to be rewriting its transgender policy, more than a year after the Supreme Court judgment on the meaning of "woman" in the Equality Act, leaving commanding officers and service personnel uncertain about the applicable rules.
Women’s organisations and campaigners quoted by the paper argue that
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Not already a BAFF member? If you're serving or have served in any branch of the UK armed forces, including the reserves, you can join BAFF today for £7.50 £5.00 (special
Good to see Armed Forces Day being celebrated once again in many places across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, which had "more than a dozen events" from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Thurso and Dumfries.
The fact that Glasgow held (and were always going to hold) an official AFD event is perhaps worth noting in view
A report just released by the National Audit Office says that the Ministry of Defence lost the taxpayer around £14.5 billion over the life of the Annington Homes deal, compared to where we would be if the 1996 deal had never happened.
But there is also praise for the action finally taken by MoD to repurchase more than 36,000 service
Following the resignations of John Healey and Al Carns, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon writes in the Telegraph that Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, who as Chief of the Defence Staff is the professional head of the armed forces, should now "show that he represents British servicemen and women by falling on his sword as well", because –
Given the colossal insult
The resignation of John Healey MP as Defence Secretary marks the end of a period in which, whatever one's political views, Defence had at its head someone who had prepared thoroughly for it in Opposition and, when the time came, did not disappoint.
I haven't met Mr Healey personally, but I've heard him speak a couple of times at RUSI
The latest report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee contains a striking observation about the Army's troubled Ajax armoured vehicle programme. It concludes that the Ministry of Defence is placing "unrealistic expectations" on soldiers operating the vehicle safely while underlying noise and vibration issues remain unresolved.
Anyone who has spent any time in an armoured vehicle – which
Inverclyde Council is one of several Scottish local authorities which have agreed to award the Freedom of their area to the Royal Regiment of Scotland in this, its 20th year.
After the Glasgow controversy it was pleasant to learn from the Greenock Telegraph that the Council have now confirmed the date and arrangements for the Regiment's Freedom Ceremony.
We
AFPRB UPDATE: The full AFPRB report and recommendations for financial year 2026-27, accepted by the Government and published on 9 June 2026, is now available at this link: Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body Fifty-Fifth Report 2026.
We previously reported that:
The armed forces are set to receive an above-inflation pay award, with an announcement expected in the coming
Update 30.05.26 - The special reduced £5 subscription has been agreed and will be rolled out shortly. It will only be on offer for a short period during the transition to an association.
As members know we are in the process of reorganising BAFF with a view to giving up its company registration, at least for the time being. The
I rather dislike the insulting expression "pearl-clutching" - meaning the exaggerated expression of outrage - but a report in The Times suggests a certain amount of pearl-clutching over the proposed merger of King's College London and Cranfield University.
The report by the newspaper's Education Editor (thetimes.com 25th May) quotes various KCL academics who have concerns about the merger. A
The Chair of the Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan has granted Core Participant status to five individuals "who held command roles or senior positions within UK Special Forces between mid-2010 and mid-2013."
Lord Justice Haddon-Cave's decision was announced on the Inquiry website on 20 May.
Under the inquiry rules, Core Participant ("CP") status is only granted with consent of the individual,
Today, 22nd May 2026, is the fifteenth anniversary of the official end of Operation Telic, the formal name for UK operations in Iraq that began with the 2003 invasion and subsequent removal of the dictator.
UK combat forces, primarily based in the southern city of Basra, had withdrawn from Iraq in July 2009, but, since then, at the request of the
We thought it might assist Glasgow City Council members if they were to see an example of a previous parade in which the Freedom of a council area was formally conferred on the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
Here's a high-quality video of the Freedom Ceremony on 12th October, 2015 conferring on the Regiment the Freedom of the Highlands:
[Thanks to
The Prime Minister said in Parliament today that Glasgow City Council should 'reconsider' its controversial decision last week to reject a motion to grant the Freedom of the City to the Royal Regiment of Scotland in this, its 20th anniversary year.
In Prime Minister's Questions today, Glasgow North East MP Maureen Burke described the rejection as "a shameful snub to
BAFF has unsurprisingly added its voice to calls for Glasgow City Council to reconsider its refusal of a motion to confer the Freedom of the City upon the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
BAFF also asked me to look further into this.
In a good Scots phrase, it's A Right Fankle.
BAFF is non-partisan in political party terms. My personal view,
An essential part of 'successor BAFF', which will take the form of an Unincorporated Association, is a new Constitution.
A draft of the new Constitution is now available for logged-in users (including for the time being lapsed members and BAFF Military Supporters) to see and comment.
The new Constitution will effectively replace the Memorandum of Association of the current BAFF
Thanks BAFF for the ongoing coverage of the Troubles Bill and related muddles. As the Federation's original chairman and currently assisting with the ongoing BAFF restructuring, I thought it would be worth reminding ourselves of the Federation's position over the years on the applicability of law to military operations - and especially on so-called 'legacy investigations' taking place years after
With a significant procedural motion concerning the NI Troubles Bill expected on Monday (27 April), the picture is supposedly complicated by the expected absence of the Armed Forces Minister Al Carns, who is believed to be visiting troops engaged in defensive missions against Iran in the Gulf.
His absence from a key Commons moment raises questions in some minds about:
The saga of Northern Ireland Troubles legislation continues in Parliament on Monday (27 April), following a statement by the NI Secretary Hilary Benn last week.
Mr Benn's written statement confirmed that the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill remains central to the Government’s approach, describing it as an effort to finally address a long-standing failure to deal with the past. Nearly three
A recent BAFF blog post mentioned that the first phase of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 is due to come into force in May 2026.
There was nothing specifically about service accommodation in the Renters' Rights Bill as first introduced by the Labour Government - or in its predecessor Bill introduced under the Conservative Government but never completed its stages
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 is intended to implement Labour Party manifesto commitments to 'overhaul the regulation of our country’s insecure and unjust private rented sector'. The Act only applies to England, and will be brought into force in three phases, with the first phase expected to come into force on 1 May 2026.
While the Act is intended to
Work continues on reorganising BAFF to change its structure from a registered Company Limited by Guarantee to an ordinary unincorporated association.
The driver for the change is simply cost, specifically the next year's fee quoted by the accountants who act as company secretaries and provide the registered office.
The website will continue, as will volunteers' work on cases and campaigns.
Following and evidence session with her on Wednesday (26 Mar), the House of Commons Defence Committee has recommended the Defence Secretary to proceed with the appointment of his preferred candidate for Armed Forces Commissioner, retired RAF Air Commodore Polly Miller-Perkins.
Ms Miller-Perkins is expected to take up the role on an interim basis for one year from April 2026, as a
This year's Armed Forces Day national event will be hosted by Rushmoor Borough Council at Aldershot and Farnborough on Saturday, 27th June 2026, with other events taking place across the UK on or around the same date.
When Armed Forces Day was started by the then Labour government one view was that armed forces personnel were hardly honoured by
An MOD written parliamentary answer to James Cartlidge MP (Cons, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence) reveals that in just under 20 months, nearly sixty thousand applications to join the armed forces were rejected on medical grounds.
The answer also revealed striking disparities amongst the figures for the respective services -
I wonder why this has come to mind today. Maybe it's because I attended a recent ceremony marking the 35th anniversary of the end of active operations in the Gulf; Op Granby to the Brits, Desert Storm to our major allies.
But Ive been refreshing my memory on something that happened in that conflict. A strategic bridge over the wide
The Government proposes, in the Armed Forces Bill currently before Parliament, to establish a new standalone corporate body to be called the Defence Housing Service.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the purpose is
to renew tens of thousands of military homes and address years of underinvestment as government vows to renew the nation’s contract with those who serve by
The Ministry of Defence has announced that for the first time, free, independent legal advice will be available to victim-survivors of rape and sexual offences (allegedly) committed by Service personnel or a civilian subject to Service Discipline that are being investigated by the Service Justice System.
The Independent Legal Advocacy (ILA) support programme pilot will, from Spring 2026, provide impartial