Strengthening the Covenant in Legislation This week saw the Armed Forces Bill 2021 officially introduced to parliament for debate. This is legislation which has to be passed every 5 years to enable parliament to approve the continued existence of the Armed Forces! The Bill also presents an opportunity to include additional legislation related to the […]
The 2020 annual report on the Armed Forces Covenant has been published by the MOD today (7 December). Covering progress in areas such as health, education and housing across the UK, highlights of the report include: Nearly 1500 organisations, large and small have signed the Covenant in 2020, bringing the total to over 6000 and […]
The Veterans Minister’s annual report, ‘Scottish Government Support for the Veterans and Armed Forces Community 2020’ is now available on the Scottish Government website. You can read the full report here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-support-veterans-armed-forces-community-2020-report/
Anyone who has served in the Armed Forces can now buy a Veterans Railcard which will give them discounted rail travel throughout the UK. Costing £30, further details are at the link.
The NHS in England would like to hear from Service families about their views on how it can improve health and wellbeing support. An engagement exercise is being run until 30 November which will involve online meetings and events, supported by a questionnaire. More details are at the link.
The 2019 Annual Report on the Armed Forces Covenant in Wales has been published. It covers the wide range of activity that has been taking place in support of the Armed Forces Community of Service Personnel, Veterans and families.
A wide range of service charities have received grants totaling just under £5.8M from the government to help them continue with their important activities during the COVID pandemic, which has seen charities’ incomes reduced. The grants, announced in June 2020, were administered by the Covenant Trust Fund. A complete list of the charities concerned together with […]
In a welcome move, the government has published statutory guidance for local authorities which should improve access to social housing for members of the Armed Forces community, including estranged spouses and veterans. The requirement to have lived in an area for 2 years before being eligible for social housing should be dropped for veterans with […]
The Government is to provide £6m of additional funding to military charities to help them continue with the vital work they are carrying out for the Armed Forces Community during the Coronavirus pandemic. Full details are here.
Helen Helliwell, Director of Armed Forces Personnel Policy, was recently interviewed by BFBS to talk about the challenges facing Service Personnel and families during Coronavirus and the help that is available. Watch the full interview on Forces.Net.