Welfare Navigators: On the frontline of the RAF Benevolent Fund

Around the nation, millions of people are recognising February 23rd as ‘Helpline Awareness Day'.

The day is used to raise awareness of the incredible work that helplines do every day, which often goes unnoticed.

Here at the RAF Benevolent Fund, hundreds of Welfare staff commit their time to supporting beneficiaries through a number of life's obstacles.

Most of this support begins with a straightforward and friendly telephone conversation.

From housing support, to help with tackling family discord, our Welfare Support Navigators are at-hand around-the-clock with all the necessary training and experience to properly ensure the needs of RAF Beneficiaries are met and kept.

Across the Fund there are six dedicated Welfare Navigators in the Team.

Welfare Navigators are the first point of contact for beneficiaries reaching out to the Fund with a welfare enquiry or need.

Enquiries are usually made by phone, email, web chat and web form. But can occasionally come from internal sources within the fund.

Our six superstar Welfare Navigators at the Fund are Lindsay Hutton, Lucy Cannon, Alex Angeloudes, Martin Pokorny, Rebecca Relph and Emily Cooper.

Each Welfare Navigator deals with enquiry types on a rota basis. They will speak to an enquirer and determine the best way to help with their needs.

This can range anywhere from providing advice and guidance to making the appropriate referrals.

The Welfare Navigators also do a lot of follow up work to make sure beneficiaries cases are progressing as they should and to help facilitate an application being received into the Fund.

Our Welfare Services Manager, Sasha, has broken down the importance of this service saying: “Welfare Navigators are central to the running of the Benevolent Fund. They are quite often the first person a beneficiary reaches out to when they need help. They need to be empathetic, knowledgeable and make sure every caller feels heard and supported by the Fund. This first encounter sets an individual up on their beneficiary journey, so the first impression needs to be a good one.”

Last year the RAF Benevolent Fund received over 7,000 enquiries, all of which, were dealt with firstly by our Welfare Navigators.

With the rising cost of living, the Fund is anticipating an increase in callouts for Financial Support.

If you or someone you know would like to contact Welfare Support Services, please reach out to us at: welfarenavigators@rafbf.org.uk or call our helpline on 0300 102 1919.

Alternatively, if you are interested in learning more about becoming a Welfare Navigator, contact us at: mail@rafbf.org.uk and to donate please email our fundraising team at hello@rafbf.org.uk.