Welfare
There are numerous national services that offer support to veterans, and many of those are collated here for ease of reference.
Veterans Gateway
Veterans Gateway provides information and support for veterans and their families
They are the first point of contact for you and your loved ones. Contactable 24/7 for help across housing, mental wellbeing, finances and more. They we can also refer you directly to their Referral Partners. Get in touch with their friendly helpline team by phone, chat, text and email.
Cobseo
Cobseo, are the Confederation of Service Charities, and provide a single point of contact for interaction with Government, including local government and the Devolved Administrations; with the Royal Household; with the Private Sector; and, of course, with other members of the Armed Forces Community.
This allows Cobseo Members to interact with all interested parties and especially to cooperate and collaborate with others in order to provide the best possible level of support to beneficiaries.
Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces
The Ombudsman provides independent and impartial oversight of the Service Complaints system for members of the UK Armed Forces.
Combat Stress
Combat Stress are the UK’s leading mental health charity for veterans offering free treatment and support to ex-servicemen and women of the UK Armed Forces.
Call them on 0800 138 1619, text them on 07537 404 719 or email helpline@combatstress.org.uk for assistance.
Fighting With Pride
Fighting With Pride supports the health and wellbeing of LGBT+ Veterans, service personnel and their families – in particular those most impacted by the ban on LGBT+ personnel serving in the Armed Forces prior to January 2000.
Veterans Welfare Service
The Veterans Welfare Service (VWS), is part of Veterans UK and provides one-to-one support to veterans via a national network of welfare managers across the UK and Republic of Ireland. Phone or email the Veterans UK helpline and ask for the Welfare Service.
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/veterans-welfare-service
Defence Personnel Advice Service
Defence Personnel Advice Service provides signposting and advice for service personnel.
It still matters: Whenever it happened to you, it is never too late to get support for sexual abuse or sexual violence
Forward Assist
Forward Assist provides support, advice, guidance and advocacy through a variety of projects that help veterans ‘come out of the darkness’, and seek support to reduce the negative impact of social isolation and loneliness.
Their interventions aim to improve the physical and mental health of veterans.
Veterans UK
Medical assistance for veterans in:
- England
- NHS 111 service or call 111 when you need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency, or contact NHS
- Scotland
- Scotland’s Health on the Web or call 111
- Wales
- NHS Direct Wales or call 0845 46 47
- Northern Ireland
- nidirect government services – telephone contact details are available from the website
Veterans UK Helpline
- Freephone (UK only)
- 0808 1914 2 18
- Telephone (overseas)
- +44 1253 866 043
- veterans-uk@mod.gov.uk
When the helpline is closed, callers will be given the option to be re-routed to The Samaritans 24 hour helpline.
Resettle North East
We know that having stable accommodation goes a long way to helping people break the cycle of re-offending.
The Resettle North East service, delivered by Thirteen, provides personalised accommodation related support for sentenced and unsentenced male clients in both custodial and community settings across the North East.
Mental health support for veterans, service leavers and reservists
Mental health problems are common and can affect anyone, including veterans, serving personnel, reservists and their families. It’s important to get help and support if you or someone you know has mental health problems.
NHS mental health advice and urgent help – If you need support for a specific mental health condition, you can find information in our A-Z of mental health conditions https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/
Get urgent help for mental health https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/get-urgent-help-for-mental-health/
Op COURAGE: the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service
Op COURAGE is an NHS mental health specialist service designed to help serving personnel due to leave the military, reservists, armed forces veterans and their families.
NHS video on what Op COURAGE is and how it can help on YouTube.
Find Op COURAGE contact details for your local area NHS: Op COURAGE