Veterans’ Gateway to be refreshed and taken into the Office for Veterans’ Affairs
The Government has launched a refresh of the Veterans’ Gateway, which will improve access to welfare services for ex-forces personnel.
The Veterans’ Gateway, which has already supported over a million veterans, will be run by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA), at the heart of government, next year.
The OVA will identify and carry out improvements to the service. The Gateway will benefit from being at the centre of government, utilising the OVA’s skills and data to streamline access to support and make more efficient referrals.
During the course of the next year veterans will be able to feed into the improvement project, including testing the service to make it as effective as possible for the ex-forces community.
It enables veterans and their dependents to access state and charity support services in areas including physical and mental health, financial support, assistance with independent living, housing, and employment.
Since it began, there have been more than a million visits to the Veterans’ Gateway’s online guides, which offer advice on everything from financial help to housing and there have been around 100,000 contacts for support on issues such as living independently or getting back into employment.
The service has also referred around 16,000 people for additional specialist help from organisations such as the Royal British Legion since it began. The current Veterans’ Gateway will continue to run as normal during the transition period.
If you are in need of support, visit www.veteransgateway.org.uk, call 0808 802 1212 or text 81212.