Founded in late 2006 as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, BAFF has so far no full-time staff and no formal regional network.

The Steering Group which took BAFF to formation stated that the Federation would "not seek to supplant the role of any existing charity or other agency involved in service welfare.

A "specifically British solution for the British armed forces",[1] BAFF claims not to be modelled on any other single organisation, but that its Steering Group took into account (and in certain cases, visited) a wide range of organisations representing operational public service staff, including: Military staff associations may be configured to represent In accordance with the principle "All of one company", BAFF recruits from all such categories, but with a reduced subscription for junior serving personnel.

In the course of evidence to a House of Commons Committee[9] in February 2006 the Chief of Defence Staff of the time, General Sir Michael Walker (now Lord Walker of Aldringham) argued that If we had a set of Armed Services that reacted to every whim of every influential group in it, we would get nowhere in delivering military capability for this country, so I believe that the chain of command must do that business.

The response of senior commanders to the creation of BAFF and their criticism set out for the House of Commons Select Committee has been mixed.

While some senior commanders have argued that any independent organisation designed to ‘fight for the rights’ of British troops is completely unnecessary and threatens a dangerous breakdown of military discipline, others, such as the late Lord Garden, a former RAF Air Marshal..., have been ‘surprised talking to retired senior military people who are prepared to think about it, saying there might be a case for it’.