Welcome to the Headquarters of the East Anglia RFCA

autumn-website_size East Anglia RFCA is established under the authority of The Reserve Forces Act 1996 for the region of Eastern England, comprising the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, and the unitary authority areas within those boundaries.

The Vision

To be an enduring and essential pillar in the delivery of support for the well-being of the Reserves & Cadets and, through our effectiveness and our position in the regions, to be the independent body that represents their interests and promotes understanding between the Armed Forces and civil society.

It is funded by the MOD to carry out the following tasks for all three services:

Passage of Information

Act as a conduit for information between civilian communities and MOD in order to:

Pass down the plans of the Defence Council for all regular and reserve forces within the Association area.
Give advice and assistance to the Defence Council and its appointed officers on matters relating to military and air force resources and capabilities within the Association area.

Community Engagement and Employer Support

Engage with local communities to increase understanding of, and support for, the Armed Forces both regular and reserve.
Provide employer support and advice to local businesses and reservists. For further information click here.
Welfare and Veterans support, although primacy rests with the Chains of Command. For further information click here.
Recruit marketing support and PR.

Cadets and Youth

Support the Government’s youth agenda through engagement with wider youth movements and all cadet forces
Organisation and administration of the ACF through the employment of ACF Professional Support Staff.

Estates and Supplies

The Estates Department manages the whole of the Volunteer Estate within East Anglia. Headed by a professionally qualified Estates Manager, who with his small team of experienced and competent staff, provides a complete maintenance and management service to the customers that both occupy and administer the individual locations. There are 17 Reserve Force Centres in East Anglia and a vast number of Army, Air and Combined Cadet Force establishments including four Weekend Training Centres. Furthermore, we also manage the maintenance of 4 recruiting offices within the counties.

The Estate ranges in style and size from a grade II* listed Queen Anne house to small timber buildings, from sites of tens of square metres to up to three acres. The age of properties ranges from original drill halls built at the turn of the 19th century to brand new purpose built facilities such as Bassingbourn Weekend Training Centre.

Our services include all essential maintenance and repair, lease and hiring negotiations and assessments, as well as health and safety compliance audits. We have designed and project managed multi-million pound rebuilds and full refurbishments of both Reserve and Cadet locations. The most important task of all however, is to keep the Estate functioning to a statutory compliant level.

An addition to the Estates Department has been the Supplies area, which covers all non building aspects such as, utilities and energy management, furnishings, grass cutting, window cleaning and waste disposal. Association vehicles are also sourced via the Supplies Department.

The Supplies Department is the main point of contact for hirings, for further information contact us.

Business Services

Why are we here?

Look upon us as the principal internal support service for the Association’s core delivery. Our primary responsibilities are to promote good governance, assist Resource Managers in decision making and ensure the effective financial management of funds delegated to the Association Chief Executive.

So what do we really do?

We regularly monitor internal controls to safeguard resources and ensure that the Association operates with regularity and propriety in all its financial transactions and give timely and accurate accounts of our business whilst providing a level of transparency which underpins customer and public confidence.

We support all Resource Managers and their staff with clear, well reasoned, timely and impartial advice and ensure that their financial decisions are in line with the strategy, aims and objectives of the Association Board.

We account for all public funds received and expended by the Association in accordance with Treasury and MoD Rules and Regulations and use management information systems to secure assurance about value for money, avoiding waste and using financial resources efficiently, economically and effectively.

We use internal and external audit to confirm and improve internal control and performance and to assist in the effective mitigation of business risk.

Who does it?

A small dedicated finance team embedded within Association HQ deals with the financial processes including all bill paying, receipts, salaries, internal audit and financial reporting. The department is managed by the Head of Business Services.

The Mission

To continually strive to provide an unrivalled high quality support service to meet the Association’s business need.

Membership

In order to maintain effective links with the community, the Association has a broad base of 124 volunteer members drawn from former officers from all three services and the cadet forces, representatives from local authorities, local business communities, trades unions and industry. The officers commanding or commanding officers of all reservist units in the region are ex-officio members.

Membership is grouped into a number of specialist advisory boards and county forums. The Lord Lieutenant of each county is the President of the county forum, and the Chief Executive and a small core of full time staff at Association Headquarters support the work of the volunteer members.