The British Armed Forces Federation (BAFF) was launched in December 2006 as an independent membership-based professional staff association for HM Forces. Membership is open to all ranks, regulars and reservists, serving and retired, of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, British Army, and Royal Air Force.
The starting point was the drawing up in early 2006 of the BAFF Ten Point Plan on the popular, unofficial 'Army Rumour Service' website. Later the BAFF Constitution was drawn up in online consultation with 50 personnel from all three services.
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With the vision of a "specifically British solution for the British armed forces", BAFF did not take any single organisation for a template, but members of its Steering Group researched or visited a wide range of organisations representing operational public service staff in the UK and beyond.
These included different forms of representative military association in Australia, the USA, and Ireland; Police Federations in the UK such as the Defence Police Federation; and the GCHQ section of the PCS Union.
Status
BAFF isn't a trade union.
BAFF is completely independent of HM Government, the Ministry of Defence, the Service Chains of Command, Trade Unions, Political Parties, Service Charities, or any other entity or organisation.
As a professional staff association set up to benefit its members, BAFF is not a registered charity.
Like many other not-for-profit organisations, BAFF is legally constituted as a Company Limited by Guarantee.
Relationship to UK service and ex-service organisations
BAFF already has excellent relations with many organisations connected with serving or retired personnel or their families, and welcomes further opportunities to cooperate with and to support such organisations. As a professional staff association, the British Armed Forces Federation is not a service charity or veterans' organisation (although individual veterans are welcome to join or support us), neither is it in competition with service charities or veterans' organisations.