The Tories keep failing our veterans: their new ‘action plan’ has little action

When the government created the ‘Office for Veterans Affairs’ (OVA) three years ago, we had all hoped that the new office could play a crucial role in improving support for veterans. Placed in the heart of government, the OVA promised a future where veterans’ needs would be addressed through a fully funded plan, coordinated through every major department.

Instead, the government has only continued to break its promises to veterans and deflected responsibility for them. This was as recent as the armed forces bill, when ministers rejected efforts to apply the new duty to the Armed Forces Covenant to themselves, effectively outsourcing their responsibility to deliver for our forces communities.

The result? An OVA that has done little since its creation to make any real change. And this disappointment was echoed again last week, as it published the new ‘Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan’. Labour supports the aim to make the UK the best place in the world to be a veteran. But this plan fails to improve the lives of veterans and their families, repackaging old announcements and not promising the support and funding needed to make a difference. 

Finding suitable employment, for example, has long been a concern for those leaving the military, with many lacking a clear indication of what civilian career would best suit them and what their qualifications mean in civilian terms. As a result, the government’s plan claims to offer a whole host of new employment opportunities for veterans. However, since their last veterans’ strategy, the government has silently slashed employment support for veterans, halving its target for specialised ‘Armed Forces Champions’ in Jobcentres from 100 to 50.

The plan also celebrates the ‘Great Place to Work’ pilot scheme, which aimed to guarantee interviews for veterans in the civil service. The government points to a wider rollout of this scheme as a key initiative that will help veterans into jobs, but the scheme has rejected more veterans than it has accepted. Over 1,000 veterans who applied to the pilot and got an interview did not succeed in gaining employment. 

When looking at veterans’ mental health, a similar picture arises. As waiting times for mental health treatment become “significantly and stubbornly higher” for veterans, the plan offers the pretence of improved support without providing the funding necessary to cope with demand. 

Combat Stress saw calls to their helpline double after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, causing their chief executive to become “very concerned”. Whilst government support for veterans doesn’t go far enough, Labour has committed to boosting mental health funding for veterans by £35m. 

The government action plan also claims to address the “historic hurt” of veteran groups that have faced injustice, but offers nothing concrete for many of the veteran communities that need it most. 

Nuclear veterans, for example, have been campaigning for proper compensation and recognition for years, having suffered a range of long-term health issues from testing nuclear weapons during their service. Likewise, for veterans born outside the UK, campaigns have been mounting to scrap the extortionate visa fees they are forced to pay to remain in the UK after completing their service.

Both groups have been met with silence. Whilst Labour has committed to rewarding our nuclear veterans and scrapping the visa fees, the Tories continue to resist, offering these veterans no further support in their action plan.

However, the review into the impact of the ban of homosexual personnel in the military is a welcome step forward in righting this historical wrong. Ministers must now ensure that this considers the restoration of ranks, pensions, and other compensation to honour appropriately those who have served our country with courage and distinction. 

Overall, this is an action plan with little action. If we can afford to send our military personnel into service, we can afford to support them as they transition to civilian life. We can, and must, do better for our veterans.