What does the Commissioner do?

The Commissioner’s primary role, as laid down by the terms of their appointment by Scottish Ministers, is:

“… to improve outcomes for veterans in Scotland, by engaging with, listening to, and acting on the experience of veterans, individually and collectively, and to be an ambassador for veterans in Scotland, helping public services focus on veterans experience of their service provision.”

Their remit is to:

  • provide leadership and challenge and drive momentum towards realising the ambition in “Renewing Our Commitments” (the Scottish Government’s strategic direction document of February 2016);
  • listen, be open and accessible to the real life experiences of individual veterans and draw on that to shape priorities and drive improvement in devolved public services;
  • improve communication and understanding of veterans’ needs, issues and aspirations;
  • promote wider recognition of the skills, experience and talent of our veterans and their value as important assets to our communities and employers;
  • work to align effort on the delivery of priority outcomes for veterans, through collaboration and focussed effort of delivery partners both statutory and voluntary;
  • recognise and factor into plans the support that Armed Forces’ and Veterans’ families may also require in preparing for and during transition from Military life;
  • chair the Scottish Veterans Fund Panel to ensure that robust recommendations and appropriate applications for the Fund are presented to the Scottish Veterans Minister.

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👏 Congratulations to the 17 projects awarded a share of the Scottish Veterans Fund 2023-24 to help them continue providing ex-service personnel with support for physical and mental health, financial, employment and cost of living challenges. Pictured is Veterans Minister Graeme Dey visiting Community Veterans Support in Glasgow. The organisation has been awarded £18,536 for its Warmer, Healthier, Safer Veterans project which is providing food, peer support and financial advice to veterans facing challenges as a result of the cost of living crisis. Read more about the Fund here: https://gov.scot/news/supporting-veterans/ #SupportForVeterans #ScottishVeteransFund #VeteransSupport
3 days ago
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Really interesting visit to @combatstress yesterday to meet with staff and veterans at their new Edinburgh Hub. It was great to hear more about their services and veterans' personal experiences of using them. #veteransmentalhealth #veteransvoices #itsokaytoaskforhelp
1 week ago
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I recently had the pleasure to visit Sight Scotland Veterans’ Hawkhead Centre in Paisley and see first hand the outstanding work they do supporting veterans with sight loss across the country. Learn more on our website via the link in our bio.
2 weeks ago
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A Forces Pension Society campaign is encouraging #veterans who may have unclaimed pension benefits to come forward. This could be anyone aged 60 or over who served after April 1975. If you or someone you know could be eligible, get info about making a claim at support.veteransgateway.org.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/395 #ForcesPensionSociety #ForcesPensions #VeteransPensions
3 weeks ago
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