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20 Oct 23. New research ensures greater support for female veterans. Vital research from Robert Gordon University (RGU) has helped lead to the creation of a new government fund which will support female veterans who have suffered sexual trauma while serving in the military. Three independent reports commissioned by the Cabinet Office’s Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA) investigated how both the government and charities can improve access to care for female veterans. A £200,000 fund has now been established following recommendations laid out by RGU, Anglia Ruskin University and Combat Stress which will support the rollout of dedicated training and guidance for frontline staff to support women veteran survivors of sexual trauma across healthcare services, military, and civilian charities. Led by Professor Zoe Morrison at Aberdeen Business School, RGU specifically investigated the barriers and opportunities for female veterans in accessing service charities by engaging with a number of stakeholders, including female veterans themselves and support services across the country. Findings suggest that women’s experiences in the military require tailored support from statutory and charitable services following terms of service which are incomparable to their male counterparts.
Shared recommendations for policymakers, service providers and researchers include:
- Providing staff training across statutory and charity services which focuses on female veterans’ needs, including mental health and sexual trauma;
- Increasing partnerships between service and non-military charities to share best practice and provide more appropriate care for female veterans;
- Improving signposting to support through marketing, newsletters, online directories or peer networks;
- Gathering gendered data across government and charities to ensure more equitable access to support and better outcomes; and
- Further researching the experiences and needs of female veterans to improve access to support, including transitioning from service, personal finance, housing, employment and healthcare.
Zoe Morrison, Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Change, said: “Our research included talking to a range of professionals working to support the veteran community to better understand the barriers and enablers to accessing service charities for female veterans.
“Not only are women a minority within our Armed Forces, their terms of service were different until very recently which raises the possibility of consequentially different support needs as veterans. Our findings demonstrate the importance of improving inclusive approaches to service provision, with high quality, accessible, and in some cases female-specific services needed in safe and accessible environments where women feel valued as veterans.”
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Rt Hon. Johnny Mercer MP, said: “Women veterans make up 13% of the veteran population in England and Wales and so it’s important that we better understand their health and welfare needs.
“The upcoming Women Veterans’ Strategy will make sure that women veterans have access to support which addresses their unique needs and experiences.”
Sarah Atherton MP, Chair, Women Veterans’ Strategy, said: “These reports improve our evidence base and deepen our understanding of the unique experiences of women veterans. The upcoming Women Veterans’ Strategy is an exciting opportunity to recognise the experiences of women veterans and ensure that we have effective and tailored support to address their needs.”
The research has been the culmination of a 12-month study and is a key example of RGU’s strategic aim to successfully undertake collaborative and interdisciplinary research which creates societal benefit.
The three reports fulfil part of the government’s Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan to recognise and champion the contribution of women to the armed forces.
RGU’s report can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-2079145
20 Oct 23. New fund to improve access to support for female veterans.
Women veterans who have suffered sexual trauma in the military will soon have access to improved clinical support within the UK healthcare and charity sector.
- Government to fund development of support for women veterans who have suffered from sexual trauma in the military
- Delivers on three reports that give recommendations to service providers on how quality of and access to support can be improved
- Findings will feed into government’s first Women Veterans’ Strategy, due to be published in spring 2024
Women veterans who have suffered sexual trauma in the military will soon have access to improved clinical support within the UK healthcare and charity sector thanks to a new £200,000 government fund.
This funding will support the rollout of dedicated training and guidance for frontline staff to support women veteran survivors of sexual trauma across healthcare services, military and civilian charities.
The fund has been set up following recommendations in three independent reports commissioned by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA). The reports investigated how the government and charities can improve access to care for female veterans.
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Rt Hon. Johnny Mercer MP said: “Women veterans make up 13% of the veteran population in England and Wales and so it’s important that we better understand their health and welfare needs.
“The upcoming Women Veterans’ Strategy will make sure that women veterans have access to support which addresses their unique needs and experiences.”
The reports fulfil part of the government’s Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan to recognise and champion the contribution of women to the armed forces.
Findings from reports by Anglia Ruskin University, veteran mental health charity Combat Stress and Robert Gordon University suggest that women’s experiences in the military require tailored support from statutory and charitable services.
Minister for Defence People, Veterans and Service Families, Andrew Murrison MP said: “Our service women are an integral part of the Armed Forces community and the sacrifices they make to defend our nation are immense. These reports will give us further insight into the experiences of our female veterans and allow us to continue providing support during their service and beyond.”
The recommendations for policymakers, service providers and researchers include:
- Providing staff training across statutory and charity services which focuses on female veterans’ needs, including mental health and sexual trauma
- Increasing partnerships between service and non-military charities to share best practice and provide more appropriate care for female veterans
- Improving signposting to support through marketing, newsletters, online directories or peer networks
- Gathering gendered data across government and charities to ensure more equitable access to support and better outcomes
- Further researching the experiences and needs of female veterans to improve access to support, including transitioning from service, personal finance, housing, employment and healthcare
Sarah Atherton MP, Chair of the Advisory Group to the Women Veterans’ Strategy said:
“These reports improve our evidence base and deepen our understanding of the unique experiences of women veterans. The upcoming Women Veterans’ Strategy is an exciting opportunity to recognise the experiences of women veterans and ensure that we have effective and tailored support to address their needs.”
The OVA’s Women Veterans’ Strategy will take on a number of the recommendations and are collaborating with the researchers to ensure the key findings of the reports are reflected in the upcoming strategy.
Anglia Ruskin University has reported on the experiences of tri-service UK female veterans in accessing support in civilian life. Researchers found that female veterans experienced a number of challenges in civilian life, many related to gendered experiences during their military service and these increased their need for support from statutory and charitable services.
Combat Stress has researched methods on improving access to best-evidenced treatment – such as cognitive processing therapy – for women veterans who had experienced sexual trauma. The report highlighted that women veterans often feel their experiences of sexual trauma are not widely understood by health care professionals or the wider veteran community.
Robert Gordon University investigated the barriers and opportunities for female veterans in accessing service charities. The universities concluded that as female veterans may not self-identify as veterans, and may have different support needs to male veterans due to different experiences of military service, they may be reluctant to access service charities.
The Ministry of Defence is clear that is no place for sexual assault or other sexual offences in the Armed Forces and we are committed to stamping it out and supporting anybody impacted by this terrible behaviour.
As part of the department’s commitment to prevent and address unacceptable sexual behaviour, we have a number of measures in place to tackle this type of offending including zero tolerance policies and strengthen levers to discharge those who are found to have committed sexual offences or unacceptable sexual behaviour.
We continue to use relevant information about sexual offending in the Armed Forces to consider and develop further interventions and measures to try and tackle this type of offending. (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
19 Oct 23. New veterans ID cards rolled out to service leavers.
All service leavers will receive a new ID card to mark their time in the armed forces. Thousands more veterans will receive HM Armed Forces Veteran Cards by the end of the year thanks to a £3 m injection to expand the roll-out to veterans who left service before 2018.
Update 21 July 2023
Continued progress has been made towards the new digital verification service to apply for a HM Armed Forces Veteran Card.
The Ministry of Defence and the Office for Veterans’ Affairs are jointly delivering this service as part of ongoing improvements in veterans support. The Veterans’ Recognition Scheme has a two-phase rollout. Phase 1 is complete; with Service leavers receiving a recognition card as part of the discharge process.
Phase 2 is to extend the scheme to existing veterans so that they can more quickly, easily and securely prove they served in the UK Armed Forces so they can access the services they need.
There is a need to future-proof the roll-out and ensure that we are giving ID cards only to those with verified service to guard against fraudulent use as veterans become able to access a wider range of benefits.
In the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan (2022-2024) the government committed to exploring the secure, digital verification of veterans’ status. This work is underway, and we are currently working with veterans and other stakeholders to ensure any solution meets the needs of all veterans. This will support delivery of the Phase 2 roll out of ID cards. The government is still committed to delivering ID cards but cannot give a timescale for final delivery as this work is in progress.
A new ID card for armed forces veterans, which will help them access specialist support and services, has started to be issued to service leavers.
From today, any personnel who have left the military since December 2018 will automatically be given one of the new ID cards, which will allow them to maintain a tangible link to their career in the forces.
The cards allow veterans to easily verify their service to the NHS, their local authority, and charities, helping them to access support and services where needed.
All other veterans will be able to apply for a new ID card by the end of this year, to mark their time in the armed forces.
Minister for Defence People and Veterans Tobias Ellwood said:
We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the ex-forces community, and we are working hard to ensure they receive the support they deserve.
These new cards celebrate the great commitment and dedication of those who have served this country, and I hope they can provide a further link to ex-personnel and the incredible community around them.
Veterans UK – which manages pensions and compensation payments for the armed forces – local authorities, service charities, NHS and GPs will also benefit from the change, as they will not have to conduct time-consuming checks to identify individual veterans.
The new ID card is one of three that are available to service leavers. Personnel leaving the armed forces are also able to keep their military IDs, known as the MOD Form 90, allowing them to maintain their emotional connection with their service. Additionally, veterans can access a range of discounts through the Defence Discount Service, the official MOD-endorsed service for the armed forces.
Last year saw the launch of the Strategy for our Veterans, published jointly by the UK, Welsh and Scottish Governments, which sets out the key areas of support for those who have left the armed forces. The consultation closed on Thursday 21 February.
All relevant government departments have a responsibility to ensure that the military community is treated fairly, and not disadvantaged by their service, as part of the Armed Forces Covenant. The new ID cards will ensure the process of validating service is as straightforward as possible, so that ex-forces personnel can access support for issues related to their service quickly, where needed.
The cards will complement the NHS’ commitment to providing specialist health support for veterans in every part of the health service, enabling ex-service personnel in England, Scotland and Wales to access treatment where they have been affected by their service. Last year, NHS England announced that dedicated mental healthcare services are up and running in every part of the country, backed by £10 m of investment, with increasing numbers of GPs and hospitals becoming ‘Veteran Aware’, in order to fully address the needs of those who have served.
Any veteran in need of support can contact the Veterans’ Gateway – the 24 hour service which signposts ex-forces personnel to the wide range of support available to them, including housing and financial advice, career guidance, and medical care from the NHS. Since being set up in 2017, the Veterans’ Gateway has already received over 20,000 contacts, advising ex-forces personnel and their families. (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)