📋 Tender Overview
Today, I wish to set out the range of actions my Department is taking to support veterans and their families.
I am committed to ensuring that veterans and the wider armed forces community receive the right support, delivered in the right way that will best meet their needs. As Minister for Communities, I have consistently affirmed my commitment to veterans and have translated this commitment into a suite of actions that will make a tangible difference to the lives of those who currently serve in our armed forces; those who have left active service; and their families.Last November, the Assembly took an important and welcome step when it debated and passed a motion reaffirming that service leavers, veterans and their families should face no disadvantage in accessing public services.That remains my objective for the Department for Communities, the remit of which touches on almost every aspect of peoples everyday lives and delivers a wide range of policies, programmes and services, including all important support to our citizens at key times when they most need it.Our veterans have given so much through their service, and I am committed to ensuring that this sacrifice does not disadvantage them in accessing their entitlements.The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme provides important support to serving and former armed forces personnel whose injury, illness or death is attributable to service. Specific social security provisions ensure that compensation payments, including lump sum awards and Guaranteed Income Payments, do not unduly impact entitlement to benefits.My officials continue to work across government to identify opportunities to strengthen support for veterans, remove disadvantage for them and recognise their service and sacrifice.As part of this commitment, my Department introduced legislation to ensure that payments made under the Ministry of Defences LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme are disregarded indefinitely when assessing entitlement to specified means-tested benefits. The legislation also exempts these payments from the Departments compensation recovery arrangements, ensuring recipients receive the full value of their financial recognition payment. This helps ensure that receiving redress does not leave veterans or others at a disadvantage within the social security system.I am resolute in my commitment to ensuring that any new scheme developed within my Department is viewed through the lens of the needs of veterans and their families. That is why I am also pleased to highlight that eligible veterans can benefit from the recently announced Home Heating Oil Support Scheme alongside the range of other support available to households across Northern Ireland.On 26th May, in demonstrating my Departments clear commitment to the Armed Forces community, I launched a dedicated Veterans Support Line for Northern Ireland. This service is the first of its kind across the United Kingdom and represents an important step forward in ensuring information and services are fully accessible to veterans and their families. The support line provides a telephone and text entry point to make the service as openly accessible as possible.On contacting the support line, veterans will receive a free and confidential needs assessment, modelled on the existing provision through the Make the Call service.This assessment will work with veterans to identify potential eligibility for benefits, support, and services. The model has been developed in close liaison with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to ensure a seamless handover should a housing query be received through the support line.My officials engaged extensively with veterans representative organisations in preparation for go-live to ensure that the model was developed in a way that addressed the barriers facing veterans in accessing services. Great attention to detail was paid to ensure the service was established on the basis of principles of confidentiality and sensitivity and informed by the awareness of challenges most impacting on veterans and their families.Staff underwent a significant programme of veteran-specific training and worked with representative organisations in developing a collaborative approach and to facilitate soft handovers where necessary. Staff on the support line also received a high level of security clearance. It has been vital to get this service right so that veterans can benefit from a high quality, confidential and trauma-informed model of support - one in which they can have full confidence.To date, 95 contacts have been received by the support line. This modest take-up is fully in line with expectations of a service of this nature and it will take time to continue to raise awareness and build confidence in the approach. To promote the Veterans Support Line, officials from my Department have participated in a series of roadshows organised by the Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioners Office. These events have provided a valuable opportunity to raise awareness of the service and engage directly with veterans, serving personnel and their families.In addition, departmental officials attended Armed Forces Day events in Coleraine on 20 June, further supporting efforts to highlight the assistance available through the Veterans Support Line and to strengthen engagement with the Armed Forces community.The impacts of the support line are already clear and each contact received from a veteran represents much more than a statistic. Each call answered has been reaffirmation of our commitment to veterans - to listen to them, seek to understand the challenges they face and provide advice and support in response. Each call answered is confirmation that we will meet them at their point of need and respond. Each call answered is a difference made to an individual and/or a family.Looking ahead, my officials will continue to develop the programme of outreach to promote the Veterans Support Line, increase awareness of th
