Publication - Advice and guidance

Welcome to Scotland: A guide for Service personnel and their families in Scotland - updated 2024

Published: 1 April 2024
From: Minister for Higher and Further Education; and Minister for Veterans
Directorate: Safer Communities Directorate
Topic: Children and families, Communities and third sector, Education, +5 more … Equality and rights, Health and social care, Housing, Money and tax, Work and skills
ISBN: 9781836010517

Welcome to Scotland is a guide to support service personnel and their families upon their move to Scotland. Due to the moving nature of service personnel and their families they can be transferred to different bases. This guide gives key information on what to expect when moving to Scotland.

Supporting documents

Supporting You

The Scottish Government greatly values and supports our Armed Forces personnel, veterans and families and recognises the contribution they make to their communities. We have a great network of organisations in Scotland, which can help and support serving personnel and their families. For example:

Forces Children Scotland

Forces Children Scotland help children and young people from serving, reservist and veteran families across Scotland grow in confidence, develop new skills and gain valuable experiences by co-producing projects and services to support mental health and wellbeing, education and learning and putting their unique experiences on the radar of civilian audiences.

Support across these areas can be found on Forces Children Scotland’s website.

Forces Children’s Education

Forces Children’s Education is a website which provides clear and accurate information for education professionals and Armed Forces families in Scotland. The Scottish Government, Local Authorities and schools are working hard to ensure that moving to Scotland has a positive effect on the educational outcomes of children from Armed Forces families. This website has been created in order to bring all these efforts together and put the resources that parents and the education professionals who support their children need, together in one place.

Resources and support can be accessed .on the Forces Children’s Education website.

HIVE

On behalf of the Chain of Command Army HIVE delivers information support for the whole military community on a wide variety of topics affecting your everyday Service and personal life, including relocation, accommodation, health and wellbeing, childcare and education, employment, finance, deployment, resettlement, and the local area.

The service is free and available wherever you are in the world. HIVE staff can research information on your behalf and are also able to provide confidential signposting to further sources of support. If you’re considering overseas postings or already at post, the iHIVE (International HIVE) also provides location-specific guides and information.

If you’re Service Personnel, a partner or wider family member, veteran or MOD civilian, HIVE support is available face-to-face through a worldwide network of Information Centres and also online. Find out more via their website and social media:

The British Army - HIVEs

Twitter - HIVEinfo

Facebook - HIVE

Instagram - HIVEinfo

Families Federations

There are three Families Federations representing each of the three services, Navy, Army and RAF. Each of the Family Federations is independent from the services and works to improve the quality of life for Service families around the world – on any aspect that is affected by the military lifestyle.

They also provide a signposting service to help you find the right person to speak to, as well as providing useful information for Service families.

The Army Families Federation and Navy Families Federation also employ qualified immigration advisors who provide free and confidential advice and support on every aspect of the immigration journey for serving personnel, veterans and family members.

More information on the individual Families Federations can be found via: