Progress update: 2022

The Scottish Government will work with veterans and early service leavers and their representative organisations to help us identify the areas for improvement across both Scottish Government and partner services and will act quickly on the findings.

SG has a strong collaborative relationship with the veterans sector including public, private and third sector organisations. We provide funding to representative organisations primarily through the Scottish Veterans Fund and the Veterans Scotland Capacity Building Grant which supports directly veterans and their families. The 2022-23 Scottish Veterans Fund was increased to £500k per annum and the priorities this year were projects offering support to Early Service Leavers and projects encouraging collaborative working in the veterans community. Six of the projects funded this year fell into one of these categories.

For disabled veterans who may struggle to identify as such, the Scottish Government will consider what further action we can take to re-signpost services to ensure veterans identifying as disabled are aware of wider support such as the UK Government’s Access to Work funding, as well as their employment rights.

The Scottish Government has established the Local Delivery Service which can provide free guidance and information. The Local Delivery Service supports people in the process of applying for Social Security Scotland benefits. This can be in a meeting at home, or at a local venue, in a hospital or prison, via video call or via a telephone appointment. The Scottish Government also funds the Independent Advocacy Service which supports disabled people to get help applying for any Scottish social security benefits. This service will help disabled people be aware of their rights, express themselves and feel understood when applying for Scottish social security benefits. These are new services that are unique to Scotland and provide support and advice to ensure that disabled people can access the financial support they are entitled to. We hold regular discussions with Veterans UK and the Ministry of Defence, who administer veteran specific benefits, to ensure there is consistency in the messaging provided to veterans. Furthermore, as part of our stakeholder communications plan, we ensure that third party organisations, including those that support veterans, understand the overlaps and are in a position to adequately advise and assist veterans during their interactions with Social Security Scotland or the UK Government agencies administering reserved benefits.

The Scottish Government will ensure that Scotland’s Apprenticeship suite of offerings will continue to be promoted to Early Service Leavers, veterans and their families. 

Apprenticeships.scot continues to be promoted within the Armed Forces community and with the Champions networks. Foundation apprenticeships continue to be promoted and supported in schools.

The Scottish Government will review its contribution to the Forces Families Jobs website, exploring ways to further promote Scottish Government jobs to Service families.

SG jobs continue to be posted on the Forces Families Jobs website. In addition, the Scottish Government had a stand at the CTP careers fair in May where we had the opportunity to engage Service and veteran families to discuss employment opportunities in the Scottish Government. Forces Families Jobs is also promoted in our Welcome to Scotland publication.

The Scottish Government will look to expand the Going Forward Into Employment Scheme which aims to offer veterans employment within the Scottish Government after a streamlined recruitment process.

The Scottish Government continues to offer work placements and Fixed Term Appointments (FTA) to veterans and the partners/spouses and veterans and Serving personnel through the Going Forward Into Employment (GFIE) programme. In addition, this year the Scottish Government has also added a field on veteran status as part of the employee data voluntarily provided by Scottish Government staff. This is helping us to monitor the progress of activities aimed at increasing the number of veterans employed by the Scottish Government. Since 2021 at least 34 veterans have joined the Scottish Government (veteran status is self-declared so there may be more). Three veterans have been employed in SG on Fixed Term Appointments (FTA) through the Going Forward into Employment programme which offers 23 month FTA with the option to convert to permanent after 12 months. This programme is ongoing with plans to identify more vacancies and match these to suitable veterans, their partners or partners of currently serving personnel.

The employability and skills landscape will vary across 32 local authorities. We will work across Local Government, including with Armed Forces and Veterans Champions and the relevant employability and skills teams, to identify opportunities to ensure that advice and support is clearly sign-posted and promoted proactively and to ensure that the latest local labour market information and circumstances are understood and capitalised upon.

Through analysis of local labour demands, Local Employability Partnerships (LEPs) will make decisions based on forecasts on local need. This analysis also takes account of user needs to ensure that the principles of No One Left Behind are at the front and centre of the employability decisions made within each LA. Through engagement with LEPs and LA Champions the local demands and needs can be matched to skills/experience of Service leavers.

The Scottish Government will use all the levers we have at government and stakeholder level, including working collaboratively across the devolved administrations, to press the UK Government for an extension of support to spouses and partners.

On the extension of support to spouses/partners, this was discussed with MOD in May 2022, with no indication of an intention to change from the current rules that spouses and partners could take up ELC eligibility in the event of the death of the individual as a result of time in Service, or if they are unable to take up the offer as a result of a health problem or disability, also acquired in service or as a result of it.

Through No One Left Behind delivery of phase 2 which began roll out on 1st April 2022, decisions on delivery of employability support are taken at local level through Local Employability Partnerships (LEPs). Support is provided based on user needs as well as the needs of the local area in terms of skills and employment opportunities in those areas. Support to spouse/partners of Veterans is provided under No One Left Behind including wrap around support needed for those unable to take up support offers due to health or disability.

For spouses and partners aged 25 and over, the Scottish Government will seek to build on existing services such as the Women Returners Programme which aims to support women who have had a career break back into work. The programme has a particular focus on supporting women that experience additional barriers to employment including female veterans and spouses/partners of veterans. Successful projects commenced in January 2021 and include RFEA - The Forces Employment Charity’s Female veteran/spouse employment within Scotland project, and Muckle Media’s Women into Communications project which aims to support women and partners from the Armed Forces into PR and communication jobs.

SDS have been delivering the Women Returners Programme from October 2021 on behalf of Scottish Government. 12 providers were chosen to deliver projects following a public procurement exercise for an initial 6 month programme (Oct 21 - Mar 22). 11 of these providers are continuing to deliver for a further 12 months with projects on track to complete in March 2023. No projects specifically target female veterans and spouses of veterans but individuals are still eligible to apply to projects if they fall into programme eligibility of having previously worked and been unemployed for over 6 months. Current projects available here.

Many early service leavers and those struggling in the more competitive labour market will be young people. They are eligible for support through the Young Person’s Guarantee. The ambition of the Young Person’s Guarantee is that, within two years, every person aged between 16 and 24 will have the opportunity to study; take up an apprenticeship, job or work experience; or participate in a formal volunteering or enterprise opportunity.

Under SDS' MOU with MOD, SDS and CTP are developing a referral process for those Early Service Leavers (ESL) who may be entitled to or will benefit from SDS Careers Information, Advice and Guidance services. There is also a new SDS ESL Adviser in post. SDS has also built relationships with the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity who support those who experience difficulty in transitioning out of the Navy, in particular younger leavers. Further meetings will be held to plan the delivery of Continued Professional Development sessions to raise awareness and establish closer links and referral process.

As with Recommendations One and Five, the Scottish Government will use all the levers we have at government and stakeholder level, including working collaboratively across the devolved administrations, to press the UK for a review of Enhanced Learning Credit Administration Service (ELCAS) learning support packages.

MOD have confirmed a review of Enhanced Learning Credits (ELC) is underway with a view to increasing uptake. The review is looking at the range and level of qualifications, links to national skills shortages (such as the recent and ongoing LGV driver shortage), and accessibility of learning.

Ongoing work to better align the work of further and higher education funded through the Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland’s skills offer will also support this recommendation.

Alongside simplification of the employability offer through No One Left Behind, which now includes skills support for unemployed adults, the National Strategy for Economic Transformation, the Scottish Government recognises the need for a skilled workforce able to upskill or retrain throughout their working lives. The strategy commits to delivering a Lifetime Skills Offer that is more straightforward for people and business to access and benefit from. Work on this commitment has begun with evidence gathering underway through evaluations of existing programmes and research on successful national and international lifetime skills programmes being undertaken. As part of the Programme for Government 2022/23, a review of the Scottish Skills Landscape has been announced and will commence shortly.

In the longer term, a simplification of ‘the offer’ through the skills agencies, local government and Scottish contracted support will be achieved through the roll out of No One Left Behind which seeks to reduce the number of individual programmes at a national level, with appropriate provision to meet the needs of individuals aligned to local/regional labour markets available at a local level.

As above.

A clear resolution to this would be the inclusion of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) alongside the work to align military skills and qualifications to the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF). We will continue to ask the UK Government for this change.

SCQF have confirmed that they are in close and regular contact with the MOD on the work they are doing and have great support and cooperation from them. MOD and SCQF also both sit on the VESG where the SCQF tool has been discussed this year, not least during its launch in Feb 22.

SCQF have also had a meeting with TESSR (MOD) and the Defence Awarding Organisation (DAO) to discuss the possibility of bringing more provision onto the SCQF and they explained their the long term plan which is to bring everything under the DAO umbrella and stop using multiple awarding bodies. They also want to ensure that more unrecognised qualifications are formally recognised. There is currently also a large piece of work taking place to review qualifications on the RQF.

A grant of £35,000 for SCQF was approved in February 2021 to enable skills profiling and qualification mapping to commence and for improved visibility of skills/qualifications and options available to service leavers and veterans. This work is ongoing.

The qualifications and skills mapping tool went live in February 2022 and a project report was provided along with recommendations. The tool was tested with Service leavers and it was agreed that the number of job roles should be expanded. This work is currently taking place and an additional 19 jobs are ready for inclusion which are primarily Army roles and the next stage is to identify more Navy and Air Force roles. SDS is further developing the Skills Discovery tool to suggest suitable job roles for users and, eventually, actual job vacancies. SCQFP intends to organise a formal launch and wider promotion of the tool once this work is complete. SCQFP is also working with the MOD to ensure information relating to qualifications contained within the tool remains current. MOD is looking at developing a database to support this. The Scottish Government will provide a further £13,500 of funding this year to support the ongoing development of the skills tool.

The Veterans Employability Strategic Group (VESG) will refresh planning on how to build understanding and recognition amongst Scottish employers (especially SMEs) of the skills and qualifications gained in the military.

The Scottish Government's 2021-22 Programme for Government has committed to securing improved opportunities for veterans, ensuring that those who have risked their lives in the service of the nation can access good jobs once their time in the military is over. We will launch a public awareness campaign targeting employers and the business community to help increase employment opportunities for veterans. Furthermore, the VESG's Employer Engagement Group, chaired by Officers Association Scotland (OAS), has developed a range of tools to help address negative employer perceptions of veterans which has included a series of infographics and videos to be presented at a series of regional roadshows.

The Veterans Employability Strategic Group will consider refreshing membership of the group to broaden attendance.

Membership of the VESG has been refreshed with new employer members recruited to offer perspective from large and small, public and private organisations including SG NHS workforce officials. A further review of purpose and format of the group is underway to ensure the group continues to have a clear purpose and appropriate membership. The VESG action plan includes the work of an employer engagement group chaired by Officers Association Scotland. In the last year, the group has developed a range of tools to help address negative employer perceptions of veterans including a series of infographics for employers and videos being made with both non-military and clients of support services to be presented at a series of regional roadshows.

Chambers of Commerce and SME employers are now part of the VESG. They have contributed positively to the Group.

The Scottish Government has reached out to Chambers of Commerce, NHS Scotland and key SME employers asking for volunteers to join and influence the direction of the Veterans Employability Strategic Group (VESG) with the aim of improving visibility of veterans and the positive contributions which they can make.

As above.

The Scottish Government will engage with organisations such as X-Forces Enterprise and Joint Forces Alba to build relationships with veterans who own their own business or are considering a self-employed career.

SG has engaged with organisations including Joint Force Alba and FDM Group (British Ex-Forces in Business Awards 2021 Employer of the Year), who help support and provide employment opportunities for veterans. We will continue to work this these organisations as needed. SG has presented at an X-Forces Enterprise networking sessions for veterans who own their own business. Furthermore, the Cabinet Secretary will meet FDM Group soon to hear more about the opportunities they provide for veterans and their families.

The Scottish Government will survey work already under way within the sector to identify ways in which Social Enterprises can support the veteran community.

The Scottish Government is engaging with Social Enterprise Scotland in the first instance to scope out current and future activity that will enhance support for the veteran community through social enterprise, noting what is already being achieved for veterans across the sector through the work of organisations like Scotland's Bravest Manufacturing Co., Scotland’s leading social enterprise employing ex-service personnel.

The Scottish Government will engage with organisations such as Senscot and Social Enterprise Scotland in order to identify opportunities to promote their work among the veteran community.

As above.

Work will be undertaken to understand the current social enterprise landscape in Scotland; identify the organisations that are already supporting veterans and how this can be built upon.

As above.

Work will be undertaken to map the service charities operating in Scotland, to identify what they provide so that areas of duplication can be identified and avoided and opportunities for better collaboration identified and progressed.

Poppyscotland has led on the development of an aide-memoire which is nearing completion on the main organisations in the public and voluntary sectors offering employment support to veterans. In addition, Veterans Scotland publish a guide for veterans of support across a wide range of topics including employment. VESG third sector members do feel there is already close collaboration across the sector.

The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with the UK Government (MOD and Office for Veterans Affairs (OVA)) to understand the actions they plan on taking in order to better prepare Service leavers for entering the civilian housing market and determine opportunities for the Scottish Government to support these efforts.

We continue to work closely with the UK Government and supported and informed the development of their 2022-2024 Veterans Strategy Action Plan, which includes commitments on veterans housing. We engage regularly with UKG on their progress through forums such as the Devolved Administrations Working Group. As Transition is reserved, it is the responsibility of the UK Government to prepare Service leavers to leave the Military.

We will support the MOD and Office for Veterans Affairs (OVA) to better inform Service leavers by continuing to promote our Welcome to Scotland publication.

An updated version of Welcome to Scotland was published in April 2022 following extensive consultation with Military, third sector and public sector organisations to ensure that the guide is both up to date and contains the most important information for personnel and their families ahead of relocation to Scotland.

The Scottish Government will work with the MOD and Office for Veterans Affairs (OVA) to highlight the relevant published information and identify ways in which the military can promote this within their own organisations both at home and abroad.

No update

The Scottish Government will engage the Joint Service Housing Advice Office (JSHAO) to ensure the Scottish element of its publications is up to date and, where applicable, provide relevant information, guidance and signposting for inclusion in its publications.

No update

The Scottish Government will work with the MOD and Office for Veterans Affairs (OVA) to identify whether MS Teams and/or Zoom can be used to deliver presentations by Housing Options Scotland (HOS) to serving personnel and/or Service leavers.

Housing Options Scotland (HOS) delivered one remote presentation to Serving personnel and/or Service leavers. They have confirmed that they have plans for further remote presentations in 2022-23 subject to resources.

Scottish Government funding is allocated to Housing Options Scotland (HOS) on a yearly basis. The Scottish Government has provided funding to HOS over many years and we are fully supportive of ensuring this unique and important service continues. If additional resource is necessary to provide a follow up service, the Scottish Government will consider any funding requests that may come from HOS.

SG funding is allocated to HOS on a yearly basis. SG has provided funding to HOS over many years and we are fully supportive of ensuring this unique and important service continues. SG funds HOS to provide housing advice to disabled people, older adults and members of the Armed Forces community. The totality of this funding for HOS is £299,605 in 2022/23.

During 2020 we distributed Armed Forces awareness training to all Scottish Local Authorities. Work is underway to assess the impact of the training and whether any improvements or updates are required. We will work with other stakeholders to determine whether it may be appropriate to extend the training to front line staff from other Registered Social Landlords (RSLs). We will also continue to engage with Veterans Scotland and support as appropriate the delivery of their Informing Scotland project.

Following the local authority elections in 2022, we will re-engage with the new network of Armed Forces and Veterans Champions to determine the effectiveness of the Armed Forces awareness training and whether there is scope for any further work or support. We are also discussing with Veterans Scotland whether there is any scope to extend the Informing Scotland project beyond local authorities, such as to RSLs and how the Scottish Government can support this work. Organisations including DWP and SDS have already had some informal briefings and Veterans Scotland are looking to identify a wider audience.

The Scottish Government will liaise with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) the Glasgow West of Scotland Forum (GWSF) and the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO) to promote to their members ex-Service personnel as a priority group under ‘Reasonable Preference Allocations Priority’ policy.

No update

Work has been carried out by the Veterans Scotland Housing Group (VSHG) identifying what each Local Authority’s allocations policy contains about veterans. This is likely to be referred to in the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Pathway.

The veterans homelessness prevention pathway included a recommendation for the Scottish Government to encourage all social landlords to include ex-Service personnel as a priority group in their allocations policies under the ‘Reasonable Preference Allocations Priority’ policy introduced in the Housing Scotland Act 2014. This will be taken forward in due course.

The Scottish Government will work to improve the provision of guidance for frontline local authority (LA) and other Registered Social Landlord staff on the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant (AFC) and each council’s policy on housing support for veterans. This could include wider circulation of the Armed Forces Awareness training distributed to LAs in 2020.

Following the Local Authority elections in 2022, we will re-engage with the new network of Armed Forces and Veterans Champions to determine the effectiveness of the Armed Forces awareness training and whether there is scope for any further work or support. We are also discussing with Veterans Scotland whether there is any scope or need to extend the Informing Scotland project beyond Local Authorities, such as to RSLs and how SG can support this work. Organisations including DWP and SDS have already had some informal briefings and Veterans Scotland are looking to identify a wider audience.

Along with raising awareness of the pathway to prevent homelessness for veterans, the Scottish Government and the Veterans Scotland Housing Group will work to improve Armed Forces Covenant (AFC) awareness via the local authorities (LAs) Housing Options Hubs. As part of this, the group will seek to include information on the AFC and the specific challenges that veterans face.

Scottish Government officials and the chair of the Veterans Scotland Housing Group have engaged with housing options hubs to discuss and raise awareness of the homelessness pathway, which also included discussions of the Armed Forces Covenant. Further discussions on the Covenant will take place during Scottish Government updates to hubs.

The Scottish Government will encourage the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) and the Glasgow West of Scotland Forum (GWSF) to raise awareness of veterans issues around housing associations.

No update

The Scottish Government will support social landlords in the preparation of their Housing Need and Demand Assessments (HNDA) in order to confirm that the needs of the Armed Forces community are considered, including the number, location, type, size and tenure of housing required.

As the statutory housing and planning authority for their area, local authorities are responsible for assessing housing need and demand and setting out how the requirement for housing will be met through their Local Housing Strategies and Strategic Housing Investment Plans, including the size, type and tenure of housing required to address need in their communities. Scottish Government guidance for local authorities on preparing a Housing Need and Demand Assessment requires them to give due consideration to Specialist Provision requirements including accessible and adapted housing and wheelchair housing amongst others. When evidencing this they should consider a range of households such as older people disabled people, people with a mental health condition, and armed forces communities. Each HNDA is assessed by the Scottish Government's Centre for Housing Market analysis (CHMA) who will work with local authorities to ensure that their HNDA’s can be signed off as being “robust and credible”.

The Scottish Government will encourage local authorities to fully consider the housing requirement of the Armed Forces Community when preparing a Local Housing Strategy and to ensure that appropriate engagement takes place with relevant organisations to inform the development of each strategy.

As outlined in the recently refreshed Veterans Strategy Action Plan we will work with Scotland’s Housing Network to encourage Local Authorities to identify the housing needs of the Armed Forces Community and to reflect this in their Local Housing Strategies and Strategic Housing Investment Plans. For example, Argyll and Bute Council’s Local Housing Strategy 2022-2027 has highlighted engagement with veterans’ organisations and representatives of Armed Forces personnel from HM Clyde military base to ascertain their housing needs and priorities and this work has directly informed the Local Housing Strategy. Additionally, Veterans Housing Scotland is now represented as a core member of the Argyll & Bute Strategic Housing Forum to ensure the needs of this group continue to be identified and addressed.

Any proposed Scottish Veterans Housing Alliance could effectively feed into both the Housing Need and Demand Assessments (HNDA) and Local Housing Strategy (LHS) processes to help inform future need for veterans in Scotland. The Scottish Government will discuss with the Veterans Scotland Housing Group (VSHG) the proposed purpose and associated benefits of an alliance and will consider further if a request/proposal to fund a feasibility study is submitted.

No proposal for a Scottish Veterans Housing Alliance has yet been forthcoming.

We will work with partners and stakeholders to develop a Veterans Homelessness Prevention Pathway by early 2022.

The Veterans Homelessness Prevention Pathway was published on 25 January 2022. We are committed to implementing the 24 recommendations in this pathway and a formal implementation group will be created in due course.

We will work with partners and stakeholders to determine the most appropriate way to deliver any recommendations within the pathway.

As above.

Engage with partners from UK Government and Defence Medical Services (DMS) to ensure that service leavers and their families have access to relevant information in relation to the health care system in Scotland.

We have started the dialogue with DMS and this engagement is largely to understand what happens at their end and what and where we can make improvements.

Identify areas where there can be greater collaboration with stakeholders across the UK Government and Defence Medical Services to address issues associated with transition.

As above.

Working with colleagues in Defence Medical Services, consider ways, such as engagement sessions/presentations on healthcare in Scotland, which can support service leavers to ensure they are fully informed before leaving.

As above.

Continue to press MOD and UK Government colleagues for the effective roll out of Project Cortisone in Scotland as soon as possible.

The Scottish Government does not have influence over Project Cortisone although we do continue to engage UKG on the project and understand that Leuchars Medical Centre is earmarked to be a pioneer site for the next element within the project.

Through our work within the General Practice Recognition Scheme and the Fife pilot project, establish processes and provide information on good practice regarding veterans’ health records held in primary healthcare systems.

We are identifying practices to participate in the pilot element of the GP Armed Forces and Veterans Recognition scheme. Training is also being developed which highlights best practice for General Practice such as ensuring that new patients are asked to identify their veteran status and encouraging veterans to self-identify so that full medical records can be sought.

Inspired by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) ‘veteran aware’ GP accreditation scheme, convene a group to develop a similar scheme for general practices to raise awareness of issues impacting the health of veterans and Armed Forces families living in Scotland.

We have convened a sub group to develop a scheme for General Practices that aims to increase awareness of issues impacting the health of veterans and Armed Forces Families.

We will work with partners to develop training materials to be made available to practices who have agreed to be part of an initial pilot scheme. This material will reflect the multi-disciplinary teams that exist within these practices with specific content aimed at administrative staff, clinical staff and practice managers and provide signposting to support organisations.

As above.

We will assess feedback from this pilot and where relevant adapt the training content and any associated processes or data gathering to ensure optimal results prior to wider scheme roll out.

As above.

We will engage with colleagues in England and Wales to share our learning and support further scheme improvements.

As above.

Establish a Veterans’ Mental Health & Wellbeing Action Plan Implementation Board which will report to the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care on a quarterly basis.

SG has established a Veterans' Mental Health & Wellbeing Action Plan Implementation Board which will report to the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care on a quarterly basis. Dr Charles Winstanley is leading the Board.

Commission See Me to develop an anti-stigma campaign and to identify the barriers that veterans experience when trying to access mental health services and is reflective of the lived experience of veterans.

See Me has been commissioned to identify the barriers that veterans experience when trying to access mental health services and is working directly with veterans to ensure a reflection of the lived experience.

Commission Combat Stress to support the work of the Implementation Board and help develop the role of peer support services across Scotland.

Combat Stress has been commissioned to support the work of the Implementation Board. The Implementation Team is currently being recruited by Combat Stress.

Peer support services will also link with colleagues in housing and employment to optimise the impact of social prescribing.

No update