Royal Fleet Auxiliary: Families
(asked on 23rd October 2026) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons the children of Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel are not eligible for Armed Forces family support schemes.
Answered by
Calvin Bailey
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans and People)
This question was answered on 2nd November 2026
Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) personnel are civilian seafarers employed by the Ministry of Defence and are not members of the Armed Forces. Consequently, eligibility for some schemes specifically designed for Service personnel and their families does not extend to RFA families.
They do, however, have access to a range of welfare and family support, and the Department continues to review these arrangements to ensure they meet the needs of the RFA workforce.