The Career Transition Partnership is all joined up …

David Duffy, the CTP’s Director of Field Operations, puts this message across as clearly as possible, as Quest visits him at head office in London’s Lower Regent Street. Employment Liaison Manager, Derek Lawrence-Brown, and Karen Holden, who covers marketing, are also in the third-floor meeting room. The CTP has just finished delivering the programme to support the recent RAF redundancy scheme, and a new Employment Consultant (EC) has been based in Kinloss since last year to help manage it. Their client is, as it always has been, the Service leaver.

He explains that: ‘The basic differences between this contract and the last one are that we are bringing the different elements of the CTP closer together, improving communication, and introducing Regional Employment & Training Managers (RETMs). The changes are an evolution based on seven years’ experience – they are not revolutionary. CTP has always had a strong regional emphasis, but we now want to ensure that training matches local employer needs. The RETMs will understand what local employers want.

‘Eight of them are already in place, with two more to come in Uxbridge and Colchester. We are also looking to recruit one in Germany because a number of Service leavers want to live and work there at the end of their contract. The RETMs will also look at the quality of regional training providers and get involved in the preferred supplier selection process.’

In simple terms, Duffy directs the overall delivery of the CTP elements of the resettlement service (third line), and seeks to maintain as close a relationship as possible with the MoD’s Director Resettlement, single-Service resettlement advisers (second line) and unit resettlement information staff (first line). He directly controls Regional Resettlement Centres (RRCs) and thus the delivery of career advice under the contract to all who are entitled to receive it. Therefore the role of the RRC and its manager has not changed under the new contract.

Lawrence-Brown focuses on the needs of the employer, and manages the RETMs as well as the network of ECs (one from the Officers’ Association (OA) and 25 from the Regular Forces Employment Association (RFEA)). Both have joined up to be a subcontractor to Right Management (the MoD’s partner in the CTP) as well as continuing to carry out their charitable activities. (The aim is for there to be a seamless transition between both organisations for both the Service leaver and ex-Service person.)

RRC Managers have already developed strong links with the Employment Consultants operating within their areas and will control the day-to-day activities of RETMs. Indeed, the Career Consultants and Training Consultants who provide the resettlement service within RRCs have to have strong links with ECs and RETMs to maintain the quality of service to the Service leaver. RETMs also have a dotted (training) line to Derek Shaw, Director of Training, who oversees the quality of organisations selected to be CTP preferred training suppliers. So RETMs will also research, evaluate and recommend good-quality regional training providers to let Service leavers make informed choices that will meet their individual and specific needs.

So, the RETMs will assess preferred suppliers, identify the needs of local employers and local Service leavers, and source local and regional training organisations so that the needs of leavers, employers and trainers are more closely aligned. Their focus therefore has to be on the employer because the leaver and the trainer have to produce what the employer wants if a successful transition from Service to civilian life is to be achieved.

Clearly, the relationship between the RETM, a Right Management employee and the EC, paid by the OA or RFEA under their contract with Right Management, is an important one. It is especially important because the RETM can provide large regional employers with a single point of contact for recruitment within that region, or nationally, through the RightJob database, which contains details of all Service leavers. ECs, of course, additionally help all ex-Service people with employment under the terms of their charities’ charters.

The RETM network will be able to give better advice about training suppliers in future. Although training courses will continue to be signed off by second line – the single Services, because it is their money that is being committed – CTP representatives will be able to provide better advice about what is available locally and regionally. There is already information on preferred suppliers on the CTP website, and this will be enhanced in future.

Of the eight RETMs so far selected from around 100 candidates, four are ex-Service and four are civilian human resources and recruitment specialists. One of the key skills required by the CTP for their role was communications. As Duffy puts it, ‘They are the glue in the CTP; joining employers with RRCs and ECs.’ They will work closely as a group with training, which included two one-week sessions at Aldershot, now complete. They have also been building up their knowledge of their regions and all aspects of resettlement so that they are ready for the task ahead, so they are just starting to come on-stream in their employment function.

The problem of Early Service Leavers (ESLs) was raised in some detail in the last Resettlement Report. They are people who do not complete training (the majority), those who leave the Services under an administrative or disciplinary cloud, or who are unable to complete their contract for some other reason. Until comparatively recently, they did not meet the criteria for any official resettlement help, although some was provided ‘off the record’ on many occasions.

Now, however, they receive a thorough one-to-one interview within their unit (first line), at which a number of important questions are asked. Many of them may not be ready for employment because they may need other help first, or because they have served for only a few weeks. If it is felt that they could benefit from resettlement advice, this is provided by single Service resettlement specialists (second line). The CTP would become involved only in exceptional circumstances, if and when the Services consider an ELS to be potentially vulnerable and refer them to a specialist consultant at an RRC. All, however, will receive information and direction about where to find the assistance they need from government and charitable organisations; the CTP is not designed or funded to provide counselling on issues like drug abuse and disciplinary offences.

Last year, Right Management carried out a pilot survey of some 1,500 Service leavers. There was general satisfaction with the overall package but some criticism of resettlement advice. However, it was not possible to pinpoint whether this was at first, second or third line. Further feedback questionnaires are planned for the future to gather information on which aspects of resettlement were useful, which could be improved and how to take advantage of individuals’ experiences of the transition process.

The Seventh Resettlement Report also found that some 15 per cent of Service leavers do not use their resettlement entitlement at all, quite apart from those who elect only to use some part of it. In particular the problem area appears to be people entitled to job-finding support (an interview with an RRC consultant, then help from an EC) but who do not use it. It may be that these are people who already have jobs promised or arranged, but there may be a need for a clearer message that they can access support. The move towards a CTP marketing initiative may go some way towards addressing this.

Duffy and his colleagues believe that they may need to educate Service leavers that the programme available through the CTP is much more than just a Career Transition Workshop (CTW), however important that element might be. Leavers have resettlement time and money; and the view from CTP headquarters is that they should take full advantage of both. Resettlement training, they maintain, is about: ‘Life skills. Everyone will need what it covers in the future even if they currently have a job to go to. They need to think about what qualifications and job-finding skills will be useful in their future, and what local advice they might need.’

While regional briefings have been on the resettlement menu for some years, the CTP will now be running increasing numbers of sector briefings, with RETMs feeding them with information. CTWs will, however, remain appropriate for all areas of employment, while Options for the Future Workshops will continue, although there are many fewer of them than CTWs.

The working relationship that exists between the Director Resettlement and Right Management is an excellent one, according to both the career transition partners. The intention over the first half of the current ten-year contract is to make the whole process completely joined up, starting with the advice given in the unit, through the preparation and training periods, into the job search and on into subsequent career moves. After all, most people who leave the Services are likely to have more than one subsequent employer and will therefore have further periods of job hunting ahead of them.

The resettlement process plays a key role in the individual’s ongoing lifelong learning, something increasingly promoted within the military. It is part of the personal development that affects the whole of life – both work and play.

Whatever the future may hold, however, the CTP is adamant that Service leavers must find their resettlement to be completely joined up and not feel passed from one agency to another.