Charitable assistance for ex Army Veteran's and their families

[Spud-u-Like1982]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to alert everyone to a little known charitable assistance reserve for families of ex military service personnel.

You are entitled to charitable assistance if you served in the regular army or the reserve army. Not only that, but if you are the Parent, son or daughter and even Grandchild of a Veteran, you too can also receive assistance.

All you require is ID for yourself and relative, proof of relationship (such as Power of Attorney) and their military details. The Veteran can apply directly for a Proof of Service, or the relative can apply via one of the military charities such as SSAFA, The Royal British Legion, Walking with the Wounded, Combat Stress, etc.

Best course of action is to contact a military charity first, but it is well worth doing. I used to work for one of the Government teams that dealt with Army charities and I was amazed how few people knew about help they could receive.

An example is helping for a Veteran whose partner now has dementia, the charities can help with respite care for the afflicted partner, on the basis of their partners' service.

Just something to keep in mind.

[Spud-u-Like1982]

I thought I would maybe elaborate on the information I already provided. Now I've never been in the Army, but I worked for the MoD civil service. The Department I worked in can provide job references for ex- soldiers seeking employment. proof of service for proof they served, for themselves, their family or to get charitable assistance.

We can provide that information to their family directly, provided they have Power of Attorney, signed consent, ID, etc. Now the Army charities can help homeless veterans, terminally ill veteran's, or if their spouse, Parent or child are terminally ill, the Army charities can also assist.

If the person cannot remember their Army service number, that's ok, as we can usually trace it. What we do require though is full name, including all middle names, any previous names any married or maiden names, etc. I can't stress that one enough. We also require Date of Birth, place of Birth and even sometimes the occupation of their parents. That is so we can search our extensive archive (literally over a million paper files) in London. The majority of records pre 1920 were lost to fire some years ago, but it is still worth a try.

Now a very important thing the Army charities can assist with is access to housing/shelter for a spouse fleeing domestic abuse. Sadly that is an all too common occurrence. Our Department NEVER tells the current or ex soldier that we are providing that information. The only drawback is the person fleeing the situation needs to provide as much detail on their partner. If they don't know their army number, we cannot provide it. All we can do is confirm if the information they provide is accurate or relates to a present soldier or a past Veteran. That is obviously due to Data protection laws, but it is something very important to remember if you know of, or work with victims of domestic abuse, that if the abuser works/worked for the Army, we can provide proof of service information for the army charities to assist. We always prioritise for something like that, terminal illness or a recent bereavement.

One such recent scenario for myself involved a family friend. He did National Service in the army as a cook. He was having issues with his hearing and on-set dementia. I advised him and his wife to go to the local SSAFA and Royal British Legion offices to get assist. Being a proud man he did not take my advice. He sadly died last year and his widow never took my advice. She could have received assistance from the army charities towards the funeral.

The army charities can even assist financially with obtaining white goods like a fridge or cooker, or brown goods like a sofa, carpeting or double glazing. This extends to the Veterans immediate family too.

Please let as many Army, RAF or Royal Navy veterans and their families know, as it's a pot of money that exists to help them. Often they are too proud to ask for help, as we Brits are very much a self sufficient bunch, but sometimes we need that extra assistance and if it's at a difficult time there are people out there who are only too glad to help.

It doesn't matter if they were regular Army, Reserves (Territorial Army), or if they served for 1 day or 20 years, they are still entitled to assistance. Personally I don't think someone who didn't complete basic training should be allowed the assistance, but that can happen. The longer the service, the more help they are entitled to. They can also try other Army charities for additional assistance, whilst being helped by say SSAFA.

We have a section that deals with records of deceased veterans for families just looking for historical records. Their backlog, when I last worked there, was as far back as a year behind. They charge a fee, which I think is £25, but you'd need to check with them.

Hopefully that's clearer than mud, but if you have any questions, just ask. Like I say, it's an additional channel of assistance that alot of people aren't aware of. It often depends if a Veteran is still in touch with people they served with and are still active in the military community. I think it's only fair if they served their country, they should be entitled to assistance if the need presents itself.