Forces Connect South East (FCSE) is a cross-border partnership that was created to support the aims of the Armed Forces Covenant and promote a greater understanding and awareness of the issues affecting the Armed Forces Community within public services across the South East comprising:
- Local authorities - Surrey (lead authority), Kent, Sussex Armed Forces Network, East Sussex, West Sussex and Hampshire County Councils, Brighton and Hove, and Medway Council.
- Military – Regular and Reserve (Royal Naval Command East, 11 Infantry Brigade, RAF Odiham and SERFCA);
- Service Charities - SSAFA, the Royal British Legion (RBL);
- Health - Sussex and Kent and Medway NHS Armed Forces Networks.
FCSE was awarded £321,300 of Ministry of Defence Armed Forces Covenant Funding in spring, 2017 to deliver a project to help ensure the Armed Forces community are not disadvantaged in accessing public services compared to other residents. This was achieved through the training of frontline staff across the region to meet the needs of armed forces personnel and their families and how to signpost to appropriate sources of support.
The FCSE programme was governed by a cross-border group of all FCSE partners at both councillor and officer level. All training materials were endorsed by a 'Senior User Group' of officers from the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force and the Ministry of Defence's Armed Forces Covenant Team has reviewed and approved the content of the training packages.
The project has mow completed with over 7,000 people trained. The resources are available for all to use via our Toolkit. For further information please email fcse@surreycc.gov.uk.
FCSE welcomes Chief of Defence People, Lt Gen Nugee
The FCSE Board were delighted to meet with Chief of Defence People (CDP), Lt Gen Richard Nugee, in September 2018. FCSE Chairman, Councillor Peter Martin briefed the General on our achievements so far and our plans for the future.
