Calls for Royal Navy, Army and RAF spouses to have right to work abroad alongside partners on deployments
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Pressure is mounting to better support military spouses with the right to work abroad while their partner is on deployment.
Helen Maguire, Liberal Democrat MP, asked the government what steps its taking to aid armed forces spouses with working in the same country as their partner. The Army Families Federation (AFF) said on its website that military spouses face significant challenges including employment barriers, difficulty finding jobs that accommodate frequent moves, childcare, and other factors.
Louise Sandher-Jones, Labour Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the armed forces covenant - a pledge to better support personnel and their families - has at its heart the principle that those who serve and have served and their families should not be disadvantaged as a result of their Service.
She added: “All government departments are committed to upholding the Covenant. Improving prospects for partner employment is also a key theme of the Armed Forces Families Strategy. One of the actions taken by Defence is funding the Armed Forces Families Fund (AF3) to support this work.
“Between 2022 and today, a total of £2,242 million has been granted to fund projects supporting spouses and partners of Service personnel at national, local, and unit levels, both within the UK and overseas. This includes projects providing tailored training to spouses and partners, enabling them to get back into employment.”
Countries have different Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA), or host nation agreements, with the UK. This legislation with Nato does not cover spousal employment, the AFF said, but doesn’t rule it out completely. Partners must comply with the host country’s laws in order to earn an income while living there.
The organisation said: “AFF is aware that there is a lack of clear and official information for spouses and partners wishing to work whilst accompanying the serving person on an overseas assignment. AFF consistently raises this issue with the MOD and Army chain of command. We are pushing for families to be provided with robust support and guidance on the issue, particularly clarity around the impact of host nation agreements on spousal status and protections.”
Ms Sandher-Jones said the UK is reviewing a number of international arrangements to ensure spouses can remain in employment when accompanying service partners. She added in her parliamentary written question response: “Defence is currently working on guidance in line with the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant to encourage other Government Departments to support any employees who wish to work remotely from overseas to accompany their serving partner, so that they don’t have to compromise between their career and family life.”