They are contracted by the Ministry of Defence to provide services including management of the volunteer estate, employer support, cadets and youth and to establish and maintain links with the civilian community.
The roles of the associations included recruiting, provision and maintenance of buildings and ranges for reserves, arrangements with employers and establishment and support of cadet units.
"[7] The act was piloted through Parliament in the face of opposition from many quarters including some Conservatives and retired generals arguing for conscription, Labour and pacifist minded-Liberals who were against ‘militarising’ the nation and militia and volunteers opposed to perceived threats to their independence.
[8][9] The Act provided that each would have the lord-lieutenant of the county as the president and required that at least half of the membership would consist of officers drawn from all branches of the Territorial Force] (or, preceding that, the Yeomanry and Volunteers).
[14] Besides administering and expanding the Territorial Force, a number of county associations, including Cambridgeshire and East Riding, raised formations for Kitchener's New Armies.
As the Council campaigned against the large reductions in Territorials, supported by six field marshals with service from the 2nd World War, officials in the Ministry of Defence became so exasperated that the Permanent Under Secretary for the Army was heard referring to the vice-chairs of the Council as the chairman’s "henchmen"[18] In 1996, a new Reserve Forces Act was passed which made important changes including on arrangements for mobilising reserve forces.
[23] Through professionally qualified staff, they are responsible on behalf of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for the upkeep of the volunteer estate, some 460 tri-service reserve forces’ sites, 2,300 cadet centres and a number of training areas.
This is particularly valuable in cases where local knowledge and understanding may be limited in MOD"[25] The most recent statutory role of the RFCAs was bestowed on them in the 2014 Defence Reform Act, to.
[26] These are prepared by the External Scrutiny Panel established by the RFCA Council, whose reports are lodged with the House of Commons Library[27] Thirteen autonomous RFCAs exist nationwide, consisting of some 8,000 volunteer members,[28] with a wide cross section of expertise in financial and legal affairs, estate management, marketing and PR, employer support, youth matters and local government.
Each RFCA employs a small secretariat of full-time Crown Servants to serve its members and maintain the link between the civilian community and the Services.
It acknowledged the strengths of the RFCAs saying: “Stakeholders were generally very positive about delivery of the main RFCA functions whilst accepting the need for more clarity on roles, objectives and performance levels.
There is reasonable appetite among the RFCAs and customers (up to 3*) to explore new tasks that could be taken on – subject to addressing extant issues, such as corporate governance, finance, and HR.
There are particular opportunities around Reserve and Cadet estate optimisation, community engagement, and providing regional support to the new Office of Veterans’ Affairs.”[33] It also particularly highlighted the importance of the membership saying: ‘“A key strength of the RFCAs is their extensive volunteer membership (numbering around 8000), bringing with it a wide breadth of expertise and community links – without which the RFCAs would unlikely have access to the information and knowledge needed to discharge the duties.” (See full quote in the chapter on Roles above) .
The changes proposed in the review would, in my judgment, fatally undermine the very strengths that the report extols and seeks to preserve.’ His remarks were supported by almost all the speakers in the debate, on all sides.
[37] The minister, Baroness Goldie, paid tribute to the RFCAs but raised concerns about a lack of diversity and argued that the ‘nub of the issue’ is that the status quo ‘ results in a situation whereby decisions on spending public money can be—and in some cases are being—taken by some persons who are not accountable to the MoD Permanent Secretary, who is the department’s principal accounting officer, with all the consequent legal responsibilities of that office.’[37] Provision and maintenance of on-shore accommodation for the RNR and RMR as required.