Renewing Our Commitments

Jobs, skills and employability

The Scottish Veterans Commissioner’s report on ‘Transition in Scotland’ reinvigorated efforts to promote veterans as an asset to employers. More than 2,000 personnel are estimated to leave the Armed Forces and choose Scotland as their home every year.

Military service fosters leadership, organisational skills, resilience and specialist skills such as medical or technical expertise. Veterans - and their families - are a great asset for the private sector, and a growing number of employers are actively targeting veterans to fill their skills gaps.

The Scottish Government, third sector, Careers Transition Partnership and others have engaged with employers and worked together to help veterans adapt their skill set to the civilian environment. We have taken steps to ensure that veterans are eligible for Job Training programmes such as Community Jobs Scotland (CJS) and Scottish Employer Recruitment Incentive SERI:

• Former Service personnel aged 16-24 have been identified as a priority group eligible for support under Scotland’s Employer Recruitment Incentive (SERI) (extended to 29 years, where the young person has additional support needs). SERI offers employers up to £3,963 over the course of the first 12 months of employment, supplemented by £500 if the employer pays the participant the living wage. It responds to the demands of employers, by delivering a consistent and simple recruitment incentive, thus ensuring that employing a young person remains an attractive proposition.
• The Scottish Government has announced £1.3 million additional funding to create 100 new places within the Community Jobs Scotland programme, including 50 targeted at Early Service Leavers. Our delivery partner Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is working with PoppyScotland, Regular Forces Employment Association and other charities that support veterans to offer specialist support to this group of young people. This has been extended to offer up to 12 months tailored support for vulnerable young people.
• Veterans of all ages can benefit from support from the Employability Fund (EF) to move towards and into work. The EF has marked a significant move away from prescribed programmes to a more flexible approach to training, giving training providers the flexibility to tailor provision to the needs of individuals, employers and local labour markets. Should training providers identify the need for a specific training intervention targeted at veterans, there is scope within the EF model for this to be supported (subject to procurement rules).

Looking ahead, boosting career prospects for veterans and families will be treated as a high priority. We will work with supportive employers and organisations such as Forth Valley Chamber of Commerce and Scottish Business in the Community to build up links with the private sector, aiming to promote veterans as an asset and to fill skills gaps.