Our community, our covenant and beyond

This two-year study - funded by Forces in Mind Trust - will engage statutory and non-statutory bodies to examine how members of the Armed Forces Community in England, Scotland, and Wales are supported at a regional level across multiple policy areas such as housing, employment and health.

This project aims to characterise the evolving environment for the delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant and relevant wider support to the Armed Forces Community; examine how wider support to the Armed Forces Community shapes and supports the Covenant's delivery; impove understanding of how the Covenant is being delivered to address disadvantage amongst the Armed Forces Community; characterise how different local delivery models shape the implementation of the Covenant and wider support to Armed Forces Community, including what constitutes best practice.

The project adopts a theory-driven realist process evaluation approach which seeks to characterise how different local delivery models contribute to achieving the Covenant's aims and supporting the Armed Forces Community more widely across England, Scotland and Wales. In practice, this will involve a multi-method research design including surveys, interviews, focus groups, and workshops with relevant stakeholders.

• How has the evolving policy environment affected the delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant and wider support to the Armed Forces Community (including the introduction of the new legal duty)?

• How does the wider ecosystem of support available to the Armed Forces Community support the delivery of the Covenant?

• How do different local delivery models shape the implementation of the Covenant and wider support provision to the Armed Forces Community?

National, regional, and local authorities, as well as non-statutory organisations (e.g. charities), from across England, Wales, and Scotland.