We wrote in May 2020 that BAFF sometimes gets requests for help from former staff who had been locally employed by British armed forces or other UK agencies, mostly in Afghanistan. We may support campaigns by other organisations or groups but we can't get involved directly on behalf of individuals. We can help to publicise any useful web links and would be pleased to hear from any organised campaign on behalf of former local staff.

The article below was originally posted in August 2020 and updated the following month.  Any BAFF member wishing to get in touch about these issues should please use the site contact form.

If you have any kind of issue with the Ministry of Defence as your current or former employer, it is very important to be aware of time limits.

In our 2011 article Armed Forces Trade Unions? we said, firstly, that based on many surveys and our own consultations with serving personnel, we did not consider that traditional trade union status was the appropriate format for an armed forces representative body. Secondly that in any case, armed forces representative bodies in other advanced countries don't go on strike, and this includes those which are registered trade unions.

Might this be about to change in at least some European countries? BAFF has learned that the Council of Europe has published (7 June 2019) a puzzling and unhelpful decision by its European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) in a case brought against Italy relating to members of the Guardia di Finanza, a law enforcement agency which is "militarised" but does not come under the country's Ministry of Defence.

Postal votes have begun to be delivered to those voters who applied for them. The paperwork is not difficult but, because of the nature of postal voting, there is inevitably more to it than voting in person at the polling station. Election officials may have to return some votes because of errors.

Time is now running out to get your voting arrangements in place for the UK General Election on Thursday 7 May 2015.

If you aren't already squared away, this is the time to ensure your right to vote in the General Election. If in any doubt, you are very welcome to use our contact form to get in touch with BAFF. These are the fast approaching deadlines:

In the final 'myth-busting' instalment from the NEM team, they attempt to convince us that our allowances will not be cut further and that our pay system will become more fair and transparent.

Defence is only one of the issues in the General Election on Thursday 8 June, but below are the defence policies set out in the various party manifestos, listed by us in alphabetical order and developed from a helpful compilation by the UKNDA. Click on any party name to see its manifesto policy on defence. Please use the site contact form to tell us about any corrections or additions.

A campaign has been launched to encourage more soldiers, sailors and airmen to register to vote in this year’s General Election.

based on a September 2009 article on the NAPO website: Veterans in the CJS - NAPO

Veterans in the CJS