Scottish Government Support for the Veterans and Armed Forces Community 2024

Key Themes

Community and Relationships

Integration

The Scottish Veterans Fund continues to provide funding to a number of projects helping veterans integrate into the local community, such as On Course Foundation’s project of networking and employment skills through golf events and Thistle Health and Wellbeing’s Meaningful Connections project for veterans severely impacted by long-term conditions.

Welcome to Scotland

An updated version of Welcome to Scotland was published in April 2024 following extensive consultation with the Armed Forces, third sector and public sector organisations to ensure that the guide is both up to date and contains the most important information for personnel and their families ahead of relocation to Scotland. We have shared Welcome to Scotland with both the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) and the Families Federations for wider distribution across their networks.

Supporting underrepresented groups

We continue to work with underrepresented groups within the veterans and Armed Forces community in Scotland to ensure their experiences and needs are better understood and supported. For example, we are working with stakeholders to go beyond the suggestions made to the Scottish Government within Lord Etherton’s LGBT Veterans Independent Review and ensure that the services we fund are welcoming and inclusive to all. For example, from 2024-2025 onwards we have implemented a requirement for grant recipients from the Scottish Government’s Veterans Unit to have signed up to a relevant accreditation or have policies which demonstrate visible support for LGBTQI+ veterans. We have also worked closely with the UK Government throughout the past year during the initial development of the Women Veterans Strategy. Whilst this work was paused in advance of the UK General Election, we contributed to the draft Strategy and its commitments to better support women veterans right across the UK.

The Minister for Veterans also met with academics leading research into the experiences of and service provision for female veterans to better understand the issues and how the Scottish Government can support this work. Following this, the Minister met with a group of female veterans who had contributed to this research to hear first-hand about their experiences.

The Scottish Veterans Commissioner’s report into Community and Relationships included recommendations around the identity and contribution of underrepresented groups within the veteran community and the need for an increased understanding of the specific needs of women veterans in particular. The Scottish Government accepted all of the report’s recommendations and we are now considering how best to take these forward and deliver improved outcomes for women veterans and the other underrepresented groups referenced within the report, including LGBTQI+ veterans and the bereaved.

This year we are considering how to engage with veterans stakeholders as part of the public awareness raising campaign to highlight the work and services provided by Sexual Assault Response Co-ordination Service (SARCS) in Scotland in the days following an assault.

Social Isolation

Last year we published our Social Isolation and Loneliness Delivery Plan ‘Recovering our Connections’, which outlined a range of actions across the Scottish Government which will help to tackle social isolation and loneliness. That plan includes a commitment to “engage with veterans organisations and make use of available data and outcomes to better identify how we can support the Armed Forces community”. We have started engaging with veterans organisations in order to take forward this action over the life of the Plan.

Employment, Education and Skills

Employability Initiatives

Veterans and their families are eligible for devolved employability support through Fair Start Scotland and No One Left Behind, details of which are included in this year’s Welcome to Scotland. From April 2024, all Scottish Government-funded employability support is being delivered through No One Left Behind from which almost 400 veterans have been supported since April 2019. The majority of these have entered support after a significant shift in the delivery model was implemented in April 2022, which saw Local Employability Partnerships take on responsibility for design and delivery of services which meet the needs of users in their area and local labour markets.

Scottish Government Employment

We are committed to increasing the number of veterans we employ and continue to explore a number of ways to achieve this, including through the Civil Service’s Going Forward into Employment (GFIE) and Guaranteed Interview schemes. We offer both of these schemes to veterans and their families and as of August 2024 there are at least 139 veterans working for the Scottish Government.

We had a stand at CTP’s employment fair at Murrayfield in April where we engaged with veterans, Service personnel and Service leavers. We provided advice and guidance on working for the Scottish Government and how to apply, as well as the employment schemes available to them.

Skills & Qualification Mapping

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership (SCQFP) are currently in the process of mapping Army rank (and, through this, NATO) to the SCQF so that both Service personnel and potential employers will better understand the skills and qualifications of individuals from their rank. SCQFP continue to promote the military to civilian qualifications tool through social media and are discussing joint promotion plans with SDS.

In addition, the My World of Work (MyWoW) website is being developed to create a more effective customer journey between tools and resources, and the SDS MyWoW team are building a standalone military tool which will provide a more targeted offer and better experience for users.

Skills Development Scotland

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) continue to work in partnership with CTP and Officers Association Scotland (OAS), and also engaged with employers to promote the benefits of employing veterans. SDS are continuing to deliver services for the Armed Forces Community from within the Royal Navy Drumfork Community Centre in Helensburgh, which includes working with service delivery partners and offering career guidance, employability support and advice. SDS have also attended careers fairs and Naval families days at Drumfork and at the Learning Day at RM Condor.

Armed Forces and Veterans Community Group (AFVCG)

The AFVCG continues to meet three times per academic year to discuss educational support for the Armed Forces community in Scotland. The membership of the group includes representation from Higher and Further Education, Students Awards Agency for Scotland, Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP), MOD, veterans charities, Families Federations and the Scottish Government. Through the AFVCG, a short-life working group is looking at the practicality of study through SWAP courses (initially Access to Nursing and Access to Allied Health) that can be adapted to suit the challenges of study that recently transitioned personnel and spouses experience. These courses have been chosen as there are skills gaps in Scotland for nursing and allied health roles.

ADVANCE Network

The ADVANCE Network continues to deliver briefing sessions promoting HE and FE as a viable option to the Armed Forces community. ADVANCE has also delivered sessions through the Association of Directors of Education Scotland (ADES) to secondary and primary schools. The Director for The Centre of Military Research, Education & Public Engagement (based at Edinburgh Napier University) is the Co-Chair of Service Children’s Progression Alliance Scottish Hub (SciP) and works in partnership with Forces Children Scotland on this work. ADVANCE sits on the working group to ensure support for Service children is represented in HE institutions.

Furthermore, the Director for The Centre of Military Research, Education & Public Engagement and ADES are conducting a research study funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust to review the support of Service children with Additional Support Needs as they move to Scotland from other parts of the UK and enter the primary and secondary education system.

NHS Careers

The NHS Scotland Armed Forces Talent Programme (AFTP) has been developed to inspire the Armed Forces community (AFC) to consider NHS Scotland as a potential career destination. This includes veterans and their families. It will enable access to information on the range of employment opportunities and the pathways to joining the health and social care workforce.

The AFTP provides a value-adding centralised resource by offering advice, guidance, support and action to our target audiences – the AFC and NHS Scotland community – to increase the number of those from the AFC gaining employment with NHS Scotland.

The AFTP has progressed a number of projects including development of the webpages on the NHS Careers website with the addition of an online registration process for members of the community to access information and support (currently at 236 members) and the running of online and in-person information sessions. It continues to establish an NHS Scotland-wide ambassador programme (currently at 65 members) to guide those interested in the NHS with real life experience. The programme continues to implement enhanced relationships with a broad range of key partner organisations and has refreshed and expanded support and development activity for Health Boards.

Work continues to map key workforce needs and existing pathways to the available skills, experience and aspirations of the AFC in both clinical and non-clinical roles alike; identifying mechanisms to develop and implement new pathways where needed, including scoping of alignment with those within the AFC with existing health-related qualifications and registration.

Looking ahead, the AFTP will continue to explore more avenues to provide opportunities for all of our AFC, which includes: Funding of a Royal College of Nursing Cadet scheme; placement activity for AFC members into appropriately identified posts; and continued work to engage and build on the material that our AFC finds of most value.

Police Scotland Employment

Police Scotland continues to recognise the skills and experience that military service offers policing. Police Scotland’s Positive Action Team are committed to actively supporting all veterans and Service leavers coming through the Police Officer recruitment process. Each veteran that registers their interest for the role of Police Officer is offered support with the recruitment process.

Opportunities to attend a series of online information sessions, hosted by the Positive Action Team, are also made available to veterans who may be considering a career in policing. In the last year, Police Scotland has delivered virtual and in-person forums specific to Service leavers with a view to attracting new talent to Police Scotland. Members of Police Scotland’s Positive Action Team have attended national career events hosted by the Career Transition Partnership.

During a probationer recruitment phase in early 2024, 30 of the 200 Probationary Police Officers were military veterans.

Scottish Armed Forces Education Support Group

The Scottish Armed Forces Education Support Group (SAFESG) revisited its terms of reference to ensure that its purpose, objectives, and membership were reflected accurately, providing new members with an opportunity to contribute. The group continues to meet quarterly and has had two additional ad-hoc meetings this year.

The Scottish Government committed within the Additional Support for Learning Review Action Plan to seek to expand and consolidate opportunities for participation and engagement with children and young people. We continue to work with SAFESG to ensure Armed Forces Families are reflected in the plan, and to regularly review progress and support available.

We continue to work with the Code of Practice working group to help improve the support available for children and young people facing barriers to their learning, including those with parents in the Armed Forces.

The Scottish Government has renewed its short-term funding for 2024-2025 to continue the ADES National Education and Transitions Officer (NETO) role, which works with Scottish local authorities, their schools, Third Sector partners, and the Armed Forces to enhance policy and practice by taking into account the unique features affecting the education of Service children, such as mobility and deployment.

The Scottish Government is working with the NETO to consider the impact of the Covenant duty in 2024 through the use of a questionnaire to local authorities.

We are currently exploring options to determine whether we can collect data on Children and Young People from Armed Forces Families, via the annual Pupil Census. We are now into the next phase of this work: engaging with local authorities and completing a data specification form for the Scottish Education Management Information System.

Education Scotland continue to be fully engaged with the SAFESG and to refine and update resources and best practice on supporting learners from Armed Forces families.

Finance and Debt

Access to Social Security

Social Security Scotland’s National Engagement team have facilitated a number of virtual roadshows detailing how to access devolved benefits. As part of stakeholder mapping Social Security Scotland ensures that external stakeholders who provide welfare rights support to veterans are invited to attend. These organisations have been present at all online information sessions this year and at these events Social Security Scotland signpost stakeholders to content on its corporate website and mygov.scot which clearly details the eligibility criteria for all of the available devolved benefits and which benefits remain reserved to the UK Government.

Social Security Scotland continue to implement the ‘Social Security Scotland, Inclusive Communication Action Plan 2022-2025’. The plan outlines how it will continue to embed inclusive communication to make its workplace more accessible and respond to the needs of our clients who communicate in different ways.

They also continued to engage with their Inclusive Communication External Stakeholder Reference Group. This comprises people who communicate in different ways or face communication disadvantage or support those who do, and includes British Limbless Ex-Servicemen’s Association (BLESMA). Members from this group are regularly involved and consulted on the design and development of their services, client journeys and communications. BLESMA have also met with the Pension Age Disability Payment project team.

The dedicated Inclusive Communication Team have continued to design resources and deliver training to colleagues across Social Security Scotland to improve inclusivity across all internal and external communications.

This year, the Scottish Government published an independent evidence review, conducted by the Scottish Centre for Social Research, to gain a better understanding of ‘seldom-heard’ groups. These groups, which include veterans, represent communities who are often under-represented in public services, such as in the wider social security system.

The purpose of this research was to provide a robust, analytical understanding of the current seldom-heard landscape across the Scottish social security system, as well as the barriers these groups may face when accessing their social security entitlements. In response to the findings, the Scottish Government will further explore approaches to maximise take-up and address barriers for the seldom-heard groups identified through the evidence review by developing a take-up action plan.

Health and Wellbeing

Armed Forces Personnel & Veterans Health Joint Group

Despite the NHS still facing very challenging times, the Armed Forces Personnel and Veterans Health Implementation Group (IG) has continued to make progress against the priorities assigned by the Strategic Oversight Group (SOG). The following progress has been made against the SOG’s 2023 priorities:

Development of the General Practice Armed Forces and Veterans Recognition Scheme.

The scheme was launched by the Veterans Minister in November and we are continuing to promote and encourage take-up of the training. Training content for Secondary care has also been developed. It has been recommended that this continues as a priority.

Identifying Veterans - Progression of the Fife Coding Project

A letter outlining some simple steps that practices can introduce to help identify their veteran population has been issued. This letter has been sent to Practice Leads and NHS Armed Forces Champions have supported the distribution of it within their Board area. We will continue to consider what more can be done to ensure that the work done to identify veterans within a primary care setting follows through to secondary care referrals and bear this work in mind for any future coding/data work.

Establishment of the Scottish Veterans treatment Pathway

We have recently invested £50,000 in the Scottish Veterans Treatment Pathway (SVTP). The creation of the SVTP will support veterans in receiving reviews of injuries and conditions arising as a result of their service. It will also ensure that veterans in Scotland have access to similar services as their counterparts do in England and Wales, where pathways already exist. This pathway has been conceived and designed over the course of the last two years and NHS Highland has been nominated as the host and co-ordinator. We are currently working with NHS Highland to implement this Pathway by the end of 2024.

Understanding the experience of female and LGBT veterans

The Armed Forces and Veterans Recognition Scheme (for both General Practice and Secondary Care) contains content regarding these cohorts. We are committed to ensuring that our work delivers equitable services to the whole Armed Forces community; this includes reflecting on the experiences of LGBT and female veterans.

The Strategic Oversight Group met in May 2024 and agreed the following priorities for 2024-25:

• To continue to promote the GP recognition scheme and the training for Secondary care.
• Consider what more can be done to improve the identification of veterans throughout healthcare, particularly on referrals from Primary to Secondary Care.
• Oversee the implementation of the SVTP.
• Develop a Covenant Standards Framework.
• Explore how Forces families are considered in policy delivery and decision making.

NHS Armed Forces and Veterans Champions

We continue to host quarterly meetings with the network of NHS Champions. This forum is useful in helping to identify issues arising at local levels and to encourage collaboration. The network have also been key in promoting the GP Armed Forces Recognition Scheme.

Collaborative Working

This year we hosted the MOD/UK Department of Health Partnership Board, following which we facilitated a senior officer visit with the strategic lead for the Devolved Governments within MOD and senior leaders within Scottish Government Health and Social Care. Following this meeting a joint letter was issued in February from the Chief Dental Officer and the Director of Defence Healthcare to all dental practices to raise awareness of Covenant duties for serving personnel, their families and veterans, particularly around waiting lists. We continue to have regular meetings with colleagues in Defence Primary Health Care and by understanding the challenges Service personnel may face helps us anticipate what support may be required when they leave

Health Data

We are considering how we can improve the data gathered through our GP recognition scheme and in winter 2024-2025 NRS will publish census data on the characteristics of veterans in Scotland, including health and disability status and a new tool will be added to the NRS website allowing the data to be analysed for particular groups of people, including veterans. A report on the key findings from this more detailed census data will follow.

Drug and Alcohol Information System (DAISy)

We are developing a Mental Health and Substance Use Service protocol to ensure better working links between services to deliver person-centred, joined-up care for people that use substances. On 27 June 2023 Public Health Scotland published ‘Drug and Alcohol Information System: Overview of Initial Assessments for Specialist Drug and Alcohol Treatment 2021/22 and 2022/23’. This is an official statistics release which reported that in 2021-2022, 3% of people starting treatment for substance use reported having ever served in the Armed Forces, with a further 3% not wishing to answer. For those that reported serving, 40% of veterans reported a length of service between one and four years, and 48% reporting serving five years or more.

The Veterans Mental Health & Wellbeing Action Plan

The new Veterans Mental Health Advisory Group has been established to oversee the development of the Veterans Mental Health & Wellbeing pathway and the implementation of the principles of the Veterans Mental Health & Wellbeing Action Plan. The Veterans Mental Health Advisory Group held its inaugural meeting in March 2024, chaired by Dr Lynne Taylor, Principal Psychology Advisor in the Scottish Government. The Advisory Group have since held a further four meetings and have agreed a preferred model of delivery for the pathway.

Two sub-groups, the Operational Working Group and the Stakeholder Network, have been established to ensure there is continued stakeholder engagement, from a broad range of partners, as the plans for implementation are evolved by the Advisory Group. The main remit of the Operational Group is to consider the operational and local requirements for the delivery of the pathway as well as determining where there are gaps in service and where there are established, effective practices, across Scotland. The wider Stakeholder Network will assess the recommendations of the Advisory Group and Operational Working Group and provide feedback.

The work to develop the new mental health pathway will be progressed through this financial year with the intention that tests of change will be actioned at the earliest opportunity.

GP Recognition Scheme

Following a successful pilot, the General Practice Armed Forces and Veterans Recognition Scheme was launched in November 2023. The scheme aims to raise awareness among General Practice teams of some of the health challenges that veterans and Armed Forces families face as a result of military service.

We are continuing to promote the benefits of identifying members of the Armed Forces Community to support the provision of safe, effective, person-centred health care. The training, included as part of the GP scheme, is intended to give staff working in primary care a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of military service on health. We continue to promote uptake of the scheme through speaking to individual practices and Boards, as well as through promotion by Board Champions.

Improving Accessibility

We continue to regularly review and update the NHS inform pages for veterans. They include information on a range of organisations and resources that veterans and their families can access to help them get the support and assistance they may need.

Combat Stress and Veterans First Point

This year the Scottish Government’s contract with Combat Stress came to an end but they will continue to deliver care and treatment to veterans in line with their charitable objectives across Scotland. Additionally, an alternative model has been identified to deliver a veteran-specific mental health service in those health board areas where there is no Veterans First Point service until the end of March 2025.

The Scottish Government and six local health boards continue to jointly fund the Veterans First Point network which offers a one-stop facility for veterans no matter their need.

Veterans First Point currently has locations in Ayrshire & Arran, the Scottish Borders, Fife, Lanarkshire, Lothian and Tayside.

Veterans Link Scotland are a veterans voice group which was established in 2023 to provide a safe space where veterans can draw on their lived experience to offer guidance and advice to the Scottish Government and influence aspects of service design and delivery. A recent campaign to increase membership has identified additional members who will shortly join the group. Members are a diverse group of veterans from all Services.

We will continue to work closely with veterans, stakeholders and the Veterans Mental Health Advisory Group to ensure future clinical mental health services for veterans meet their needs, are accessible and are in line with the new Veterans Mental Health & Wellbeing Pathway.

Veterans and the Law

Veterans in Custody Support Officers (VICSOs) and Scottish Prison Service

We continue to engage with the network of VICSOs and following the Veterans Minister’s visit to HMP Shotts in autumn 2023 we connected the VICSO with Fares 4 Free to help veterans in custody receive visits from family members.

Scottish Veterans Commissioner

We supported the Scottish Veterans Commissioner as she developed her thematic report on Veterans and the Law and are considering the recommendations it made.

Forces in Mind Trust Research Centre (FiMT RC)

We engage regularly with the FiMT RC and have supported and contributed to their thematic policy and research summaries, including their research into Ex-Service Personnel and the Justice System, published in November 2023.

Making a Home in Civilian Society

Collaboration, Advice and Guidance

The Scottish Government continues to review Local Housing Strategies submitted by local authorities to ensure that consideration has been given to the needs of the Armed Forces community and that engagement has taken place with relevant veterans organisations.

Some examples of Local Housing Strategies reviewed during 2023 included: Renfrewshire Council’s commitment to the Armed Forces community through the joint funding of a Veterans Support Advisor who provides housing support across Renfrewshire and the neighbouring Inverclyde and East Renfrewshire local authority areas; and South Ayrshire Council highlighted that Riverside Scotland completed a development of 63 modular homes in the village of Dundonald and allocated over 13% of these to veteran households. Over the next 5 years, South Ayrshire Council plans to carry out a review of accommodation models for veterans to respond to any current gaps in provision.

In January 2024 we wrote to COSLA, Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO), Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) and Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations (GWSF), encouraging them, when reviewing their allocations policy, to give priority to Service leavers. In addition links were provided on the Scottish Government’s Social housing allocations in Scotland: practice guide, the Scottish Veterans Commissioner’s 2021 paper on Making a Home in Civilian Society, and our Veterans Strategy Action Plan.

The letter also encouraged them to include a specific question on veterans on housing application forms to ensure veterans applying for housing are identified and provided with appropriate housing options advice, and to improve data collection. We will also by the end of 2024 review and update the Scottish Government publication ‘A Scottish Housing Guide for People leaving the Armed Forces and Ex-Service Personnel.’

Affordable Housing Supply Programme

Funding continues to be made available through our Affordable Housing Supply Programme to deliver homes specifically for veterans where Local Authorities identify this as a strategic priority.

Open Market Shared Equity Scheme

The Open Market Shared Equity Scheme continues to classify veterans as a priority access applicant group who do not need to be first time buyers to qualify for support. The scheme reopened for applications in June this year with a budget of £27m.

Housing Options Scotland

We continue to provide grant funding to Housing Options Scotland which includes the Military Matters Project. Since it began in 2012, Military Matters has helped almost 1,600 households. In 2023-24 the project received 263 new referrals. Read some of their stories here: Housing Options Scotland - Client Stories

Veterans Homelessness

We are taking forward a baselining exercise to ascertain progress made since the publication of the veterans’ homelessness prevention pathway. This will look at all 24 recommendations in conjunction with partners including Veterans Scotland and will identify where effective steps have been taken to deliver against the recommendations and where further action is required. This information will also support prioritisation of recommendations in line with available resource to ensure sustainable progress is made going forward.

While this exercise is ongoing, progress so far includes the sharing of information through the Veterans Scotland newsletter to ensure consistency and accessibility of messages; delivery of a variety of events and briefing sessions including Veterans Housing Scotland (VHS) Group-led awareness sessions, Housing Options Scotland engaging local authorities, VHS hosting Civic Receptions across Scotland and both VHS and Scottish Veterans Residences speaking at the Housing Options Hubs; and development of a draft approach to a Veterans Housing Alliance which will now be considered more widely.

Furthermore, on 26 March the Housing (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament. This important piece of legislation includes the provisions which constitute the homelessness prevention duties.