Armed Forces Forum

We recently had the pleasure of hosting and attending the South East Coast Armed Forces Forum which has been established to act as a liaison between Kent PCT’s and the MoD and to provide strategic overview of the military health work for Kent PCT clusters.  The forum includes many of our strategic partners, such as MoD, NHS Medway, NHS West Kent, the Strategic Health Authority and KCC.

We will be hosting the next meeting of the group in September at our state of the art and newly refurbished training centre, Capel Morris and will be exploring the possibility of organising a formal event to assist in a familiarisation programme for the members to understand one another’s organisations a little better so that we can all better support the Armed Forces Community.

This is a great opportunity to get involved in the provision of support to the service community and develop even greater links and relationships with our partners across Kent.

The Royal Engineer’s Statue

36 Royal Engineer Regiment has been associated with the County Town of Maidstone for 60 years and to mark this year’s anniversary an appeal has been lodged to raise funds for a life-size bronze statue of an engineer from the regiment, commissioned by Mary Cox. The statue has been requested by the people of Maidstone, to commemorate the hard work that the regiment has contributed in the current tours, especially within Helmand. The trust aims to raise a total of £35,000 by November, when the statue is expected to be unveiled in Brenchley Gardens, Maidstone. 

I am genuinely pleased to announce that we have made a donation of £2000 to this appeal and am proud that we will be associated with this worthwhile cause.  Councillor Dan Daley a trustee of the Maidstone Trust, came to our Aylesford site to accept the donation.

Today many soldiers from Royal Engineers are on the front line in Afghanistan dealing with improvised explosive devises and our local regiment has lost six of its number in pursuit of this dangerous yet essential work, which no doubt has saved many more lives.

It was to assist those injured soldiers from the Continent in 1919 that we were established and today, we remain committed as ever to assisting those serving, and those who have served our country and therefore it seems entirely appropriate that some of the proceeds from our industries contribute to this noble and publicly spirited appeal.

Strategy Launch

After an incredible amount of planning, organising and sheer hard work, the Strategy Launch night went ahead without a hitch

It was a fantastic night with live music performed by the Band of the Corps of the Royal Engineers.  The night was attended by over 350 people, including our Guests of Honour, the Adjutant General, Lieutenant General Mark Mans CBE and Viscount De L’Isle MBE DL, Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Kent.

The concert and night were to mark the launch of “RBLI 2016” but as I am sure many of you will know we have already embarked on that journey.  We are working closely with the Army Recovery Capability supporting wounded and injured veterans and providing care in our high-dependency home for veterans. We are also working with disadvantaged individuals from all walks of life as part of the Government’s Work Programme and employing disabled people in our Social Enterprises.

I was delighted to be able to launch our strategy for the future and know that by building on the strong legacy we have been left by past generations, we can ensure that RBLI will be here in another 100 years.

Life Skills Course

Sharon Patmore and her team have just successfully delivered a Life Skills residential course to a number of delegates from the Army and RAF.

Life Skills focuses on employability skills for those leaving the Armed Forces and provides practical advice and guidance on issues such as CV’s, job seeking, understanding the civilian job market, help with applying for jobs and interview practise.

Initial feedback from both delegates and an Army evaluation, suggests that all individuals now felt better placed to gain civilian employment and were more confident about finding work after they leave the Services.  This is great news as this clearly demonstrates the value and importance of this service and I want to ensure that we continue to provide this excellent level of care.

Well done to all in the Life Skills team.

Matrix Re-accreditation

The Matrix standard is a Government quality mark, awarded to those organisations that excel in providing information, advice and guidance (IAG) support to individuals.  It is awarded on outcome evidence rather than paper based processes ensuring that support really is of the highest standards.

Having held the award for three years, we all knew what a task it would be to ensure that our support services were not only of a high standard but also demonstrably improved. Complacency can sometimes creep into any organisation and lead to unexpected and sometimes shocking results.

However, I am delighted to hear that we did not succumb to complacency and that our service delivery has indeed demonstrated continuous improvement as we sailed through the accreditation process and have successfully gained the Matrix Standard for a further three years.

Well done to everyone in RBLI.  Focussing on successful outcomes for our beneficiaries remains key to all that we do.

Access to Work

The Access to Work contract (ergonomic and technical in-work support assessment) has been a huge success for us here at RBLI and our service and quality has been praised by many.  The contract will be ending in November of this year and our BD team have just submitted bids for the new A2W contract.  We have bid in the North East, North West, Central England, London and the Home Counties and Southern England.

The contract is slightly different this time as the assessment service is based upon a holistic service and is now disability led, which will play to our strengths as an organisation with many years of experience supporting individuals with disabilities.

We are now waiting to hear the outcome of this bidding round but I and the Senior Management Team are hopeful that we have submitted strong bids with a good track record and strong reputation.

Commercial Sales

Many of you have been busy creating new products and services, or developing existing ones, so that we can go out to the market and sell these commercially.  I am very conscious of the amount of work and effort that has gone into this and we now have an exiting range of services to offer, including Ergonomic Assessments, Job Coaching, Absence Management Solutions and training programmes.

Emma Carty and her team have been hard at work co-ordinating these activities, selling the services and delivering the training. In fact, just this week we will be delivering Life Works and conducting a number of Ergonomic Assessments for a leading UK charity.

Commercial Sales is a crucial element of our strategy for the future and I would urge you all to get behind Emma and her team and offer them all your full support.