PRESS RELEASE : Progress on health, housing and employability support for veterans

The press release issued by the Cabinet Office on 31 August 2022.

Significant progress has been made in a range of veterans’ support and services, including in healthcare, housing and employment, since the launch of the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan six months ago, new data shows.

Significant progress has been made on delivering the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan which was launched more than six months ago.

More than 100 NHS England Trusts have now gained ‘Veteran Aware’ status, providing the highest standard of care to veterans and their families.

As well as healthcare, progress has also been made in other areas, such as employment, wellbeing support, and digital verification. These include:

• Opening bids for the Veterans’ Health Innovation Fund, which will develop innovative projects to enhance bespoke treatment for injured veterans’ healthcare.
• Rolling out the Great Place to Work for Veterans guaranteed progression scheme across all central government departments, making it easier than ever before for veterans to join the Civil Service
• Completing the first tranche of the Advance into Justice programme, which helps veterans become prison officers – with job offers received in May
• Distributing £5 million of funding through the Afghanistan Veterans Fund to charities, so they can better support veterans of recent conflicts. This includes funding to upgrade the Veterans Gateway website and for Samaritans to develop a new veterans peer support hub
• Investing £1m in new funding for a new digital service for veterans – this will enable them to quickly and easily verify their veteran status online.

As part of the employability support package for veterans, the Department for Education has launched an updated website for veterans interested in applying for the Troops to Teach scheme.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer said:

We want to make sure that regardless of location, our veterans can access incredible employment opportunities and the support they may need.

Schemes such as Advance into Justice and Troops to Teach allow veterans to bring their fantastic transferable skills into other areas.

Great progress has been made on our provision for veterans but there is more to do to realise our mission to make the UK the best place in the world to be a veteran.

With more than 1500 ‘Veteran Friendly’ GP practices across England, accessing bespoke mental health and support services is now easier to access than ever before.

The Cabinet Office has also announced the newest members of the Veterans’ Advisory Board, which provides independent advice to ministers on current and future support for veterans.

This refreshed board will provide views from academia, charities, employers and the veteran commissioners from across the UK to provide independent insight into the veteran community and potential opportunities to improve support.

Notes to editors

• The Veterans’ Strategy Update can be found here.
• The latest Veterans Advisory Board members list can be found here:
  • David Richmond CBE
  • Susanna Hamilton
  • James Phillips
  • Danny Kinahan
  • Sir Nick Pope KCB CBE
  • Prof Beverly Bergman OBE
  • Nicky Murdoch MBE
  • Louisa Clarke
  • Lee Buss-Blair
  • Leon Lloyd
  • Paul Findlay MBE