to advocate for armed forces families for life Beyond the Wire
Our Purpose:
Beyond the Wire works to address the current void in understanding and support for our military bereaved. We seek to bring about systemic change to improve their lives and meet the needs of those experiencing loss within the Armed Forces Family. Using lived experiences as well as research, we will advocate and campaign for change. Bereaved families of service personnel are not veterans, they have not served, yet they are as much as part of the armed forces community as the deceased serving person. Beyond the Wire will work to ensure that this unique cohort is represented and recognised in their own right.
Providing practical help by signposting to an initial online digital platform that is then developed into armed forces bereavement centre of excellence – grief is complicated but access to support should never be.
Educating and informing the MoD, OVA, Government & Opposition, the Chain of Command, the third sector, and service charities, on the impact of loss through the lens of military life. Address how best to provide both short term transitional support and long term sustained support to surviving spouses and partners, and in particular, children and families.
Strengthening the evidence in qualitative and quantitative data to inform policy and best practice to meet the identified needs of the bereaved cohort beyond the UK-based research focused predominately on widows. Hence, there is a need to address the gap in understanding the broader family perspective.
We recognise the void between MoD policy and the lived experience of this forgotten cohort of the military community. We seek to raise awareness and change policies across the MoD to ensure that they are fit for purpose and meet the needs of the Armed Forces Community.
Our Aims:
- To provide a united voice for those who have experienced bereavement and loss, articulating the unique challenges faced by armed forces families.
- To develop a body of evidence to scope and address the needs of the armed forces community and measure the impact on people and families of a death in service to improve outcomes for this cohort.
- To ensure the unique requirements of bereaved families are aligned with the intent of the Armed Forces Covenant.
- To ensure the ‘offer’ to service personnel also includes the needs of the immediate service family.
- To bring about systemic change within the government, the Ministry of Defence, the OVA and across the Royal British Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force to ensure a lasting commitment to meet the needs of armed forces families. To ensure that military connected families are recognised as a distinct cohort within the armed forces community, that they have their own identity separate from the serving person or veteran.
Scope:
Beyond the Wire (BtW) recognises all partners and spouses of serving military personnel, including reservists, and is inclusive of their children, dependants and parents.
Geographical area of operation includes all the United Kingdom and extends to families of foreign and commonwealth service personnel.
