Military spouses and partners are often described as the backbone of the Armed Forces community. They navigate postings, deployments, childcare responsibilities, periods of separation and frequent relocations, all while maintaining family stability and providing vital support to serving personnel.
Yet despite their resilience, many face significant barriers when it comes to employment and career progression.
Research consistently highlights that military spouses and partners are a highly skilled and capable workforce. Many hold professional qualifications, degrees and substantial career experience, yet military life can make it difficult to establish continuity in traditional employment. Relocations, changing family circumstances and the realities of Service life often mean careers are placed on hold, disrupted or reshaped entirely.
Recognising these challenges, X-Forces Enterprise (XFE) has refreshed its Supporting the Unsung Hero (SUH) programme to better reflect the needs of today’s military spouses and partners.
For many years, SUH has supported military spouses and partners to explore self-employment and entrepreneurship. While these remain important opportunities, the refreshed programme takes a broader view of what success can look like.
Not everyone wants to start a business, and not everyone arrives with a fully formed idea. Some individuals may be interested in freelancing or consultancy work. Others may be looking for a more flexible source of income, the confidence to return to work, opportunities to utilise their professional skills in a different way, or simply a clearer understanding of what options are available to them.
The refreshed programme has been designed around these realities.
Participants now follow a flexible three-stage pathway:
Explore introduces attendees to a range of flexible career and income opportunities through free Lunch & Learn sessions, helping them understand different ways of working that can fit around military life.
Discover enables participants to examine their skills, strengths and aspirations in more detail, while exploring practical routes towards self-employment, consulting, contracting, freelancing and other flexible opportunities.
Develop & Connect focuses on turning plans into action through practical workshops, mentoring, networking and engagement with employers, corporate partners and industry experts.
Importantly, the programme is about much more than enterprise education. It is about building confidence, creating connections and helping military spouses and partners recognise the value of their existing skills and experiences.
Whether success means securing a first freelance contract, developing a portable business, creating an additional income stream or simply regaining confidence after a career break, Supporting the Unsung Hero is designed to help participants move forward on their own terms.
As a member of the Cobseo community, your organisation is likely to work with spouses and partners who could benefit from this support. We encourage organisations and representatives across the Armed Forces sector to share information about the programme with beneficiaries, service users and networks who may be looking for flexible employment, enterprise or income opportunities.
Together, we can help ensure that the talent, ambition and potential within the military spouse community is recognised, developed and given the opportunity to thrive.
To find out more about Supporting the Unsung Hero, visit: https://x-forces.com/spouses-and-partners/
For upcoming events and programme opportunities: https://x-forces.zohobackstage.eu/events?category=SUH
