How a Service Leaver Support Team can help you

Service Leaver Support Teams (SLSTs) were set up during the redundancy phases of Options for Change in the early 1990s, when the Army in particular decided to do more to help people leaving the Services earlier than they had been expecting and, in some cases, very unwillingly. They were part of division and brigade headquarters in the UK, and would help people from all three services with a host of resettlement problems. These included housing, finance, medical queries, children’s education – in fact anything not strictly related to employment.

Much of the time they do the same job today. The 11 teams, run by an officer or warrant officer, are found at Edinburgh, Preston, York, Aldershot, Colchester, North Luffenham, London, Tidworth, Shrewsbury, Brecon and Belfast. They are staffed by people with a regimental background – not professional educators – although they usually come under the education and training support branch. As you would expect, they keep in close contact with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), the Regular Forces Employment Association and the single Service resettlement officers within their areas.

However, they are now primarily tasked to support the Army’s personnel development agenda to sustain manning levels by helping with recruitment, retention and resettlement. In other words, the title is now a bit of a misnomer, and it is now wrong to believe that they are primarily involved with resettlement issues.

So, an important port of call for SLSTs is the Regimental Career Management Officer (RCMO) of the units in their area, as well as the Unit Resettlement Officer (URO). All RCMOs should have attended a one-week course at Upavon, which covers the basics, and SLSTs can help to fill in the gaps. They need to ensure that all ranks are being properly advised on and prepared for their future, that they are attending the right courses, getting the right education, taking the right personal development and recording it in the right way. The personal development record (PDR) must cover past achievements, current employment and future hopes if it is to play the role it should in guiding a career, compiling a CV and leading to the next job. This, by the way, should not be seen as a preoccupation of the anally retentive but critically important if individuals are to do as well as they can both in the Service and after they have left it.

Quest will be covering the retention and internal transfer aspects of SLSTs’ work next month so the remainder of this article will focus on what they provide for the leaver.

The SLST will often run three-day job-finding workshops – as often as they are needed – for the soldier who has served for less than the entitlement period required for full CTP help. Although set at a slightly more junior level to the full resettlement package, they cover much of the same ground and are highly recommended for everyone in this situation. Programmes typically involve CV preparation, job finding, writing application letters, completing application forms, and interview techniques and practice. Common feedback from students, who should ideally attend six months before leaving, is ‘I wish I’d done this before.’

For people leaving before they complete training, the SLST will arrange an interview and, possibly, issue a booklet of information. (One at least includes a Quest subscription form.) Similarly, people who are being medically discharged and are on the Y List (Army long-term medical problems) may have particular difficulties to do with their physical and/or mental health that need to be resolved. The SLST can help in this area. Other people may have housing needs that are not being met or specific requirements that should be addressed.

It is worth mentioning that SLSTs can also help soldiers serving abroad to be administratively attached to a unit in the area in which they want to resettle for their last six months’ service. They are the focus for Individual Education and Resettlement Officers at divisional headquarters, and can also help members of the Royal Navy and RAF in their regions.

In one divisional area at least, the SLSTs run ‘insight to industry’ days – sometimes combined with CTP job fairs – with stands at which potential employers talk with interested Service leavers. Programmes generally include some advice on important aspects of career change, the help available through the military system, support from military charities and then a series of presentations from industry representatives. SLSTs may also lay on day-long seminars that explain what it is like to live and work in a particular county or area. From all this, Service leavers should be able to focus more clearly on their objective and how to get there.

Every SLST is slightly different, so this article can only be a guide to their activities, following a visit to the team at Headquarters 4th Division in Aldershot. However, they can provide an enormous amount of help to the Service leaver and, as has been explained, the career management specialist. It is up to readers to make the most of them and what they offer.

Forthcoming Headquarters 4th Division SLST events in 2003

26–28 AugustJob-Finding Workshop

23–25 September Job-Finding Workshop

30 Sept – 2 Oct Job-Finding Workshop

7–9 OctoberJob-Finding Workshop

16 OctoberInsight to Industry

4–6 November Job-Finding Workshop

4 December Insight to Industry and job fair

Enquiries and bookings to Sarah on 01252 349165 (Aldershot Military (94222) 4165)