Support for Disabled Veterans 2025-10-28

Opened the debate

I am grateful for the opportunity to highlight the issues faced by disabled veterans. At the last census, more than 3,000 people in Eastleigh reported that they had previously served in the armed forces; of those people, 1,045 are classified as disabled. Veterans have made huge sacrifices for our country, yet too often they find that the systems that are meant to support them are inconsistent or simply not fit for purpose. I have previously raised the case of my constituent Mark Houghton MBE in this Chamber and written to the Minister about it. Mark is a decorated Army veteran who served with distinction for over two decades in the British Army. He was deployed in Afghanistan, Estonia and Latvia. In February this year, Mark suffered catastrophic injuries in an accident while working abroad. Despite his significant contribution and sacrifices, he has been denied access to benefits due to residency criteria. The emotional toll on Mark and his family has been enormous. They have been forced to sell their home of more than 20 years. Charities and veterans’ groups are calling for an independent review of the medical discharge process across all services to make it consistent, compassionate and genuinely supportive. There remain issues with consistency, capacity and specialist expertise in veteran mental health support. The delivery of Programme Cortisone is essential to ensure timely access to services and continuity of care.

Government Response

I pay tribute to Liz Jarvis and her excellent speech. We have been working closely with veterans’ organisations such as The Royal British Legion, Help for Heroes and SSAFA on issues like digitising medical records through Programme Cortisone and ensuring that military compensation is treated fairly in means-tested benefits. I can confirm that the Ministry of Defence has committed to completing the digitisation programme by 2025, which will ensure timely access to services and continuity of care. We are also working to address inconsistencies with how military compensation is treated in means-tested benefits across different regions. The Government recognises the challenges faced by disabled veterans and we are taking steps to improve support systems for them. Welcoming the debate on disabled veterans' care, the Minister acknowledges the importance of supporting those who have served. She highlights efforts to address complex benefits interactions and introduces the Valour scheme, regional physical hubs aimed at fostering trust and ease of access to support services for veterans. The minister also emphasises the role of charities in providing crucial assistance, recognising the need for trauma-informed approaches in judicial processes involving veterans with PTSD. She commits to extending the armed forces covenant into law to prevent postcode lotteries in service delivery. We are delivering the largest sustained increases in defence spending since the cold war, as well as the biggest pay increases for over two decades. We are transforming military housing and ensuring that we overhaul recruitment. Although the data shows that almost a third of veterans are disabled, we must always remember that behind every statistic is a person who trained, deployed and served. Every one of those veterans will have a unique story, and faces unique and different challenges. To provide an effective support network, we must ensure that the service is tailored and flexible and responds to each individual’s needs. I applaud the work that Doncaster council is doing to take the needs of veterans into account. As the armed forces covenant is put into law, I hope that that is exactly the sort of thing that we will see rolled out across the country. The hon. Member raises an important point. In common with any veteran of the war in Afghanistan, I find it interesting how the experience changes as we move away from it. There are many pathways to support. GP surgeries are often the first point of contact. I urge every veteran to flag with their GP that they are a veteran, so that it is added to their medical record, as that will help primary care services understand their needs. Many GP surgeries and NHS trusts have gone further and ensured that they have developed veteran-friendly GP practices and veteran-aware NHS trusts. There are other schemes that provide support. Op Restore, the veterans physical health and wellbeing service, supports veterans if they have a physical health problem of any type or severity that resulted from their service, if they are based England, no matter when the problem first appeared or when they left the armed forces. A GP can refer veterans to Op Restore. The Ministry of Defence veterans welfare service delivers one-to-one support through a network of welfare managers across the UK and the Republic of Ireland. We also have integrated personal commissioning for veterans. For many veterans, being able to live independently in a safe and suitable environment is of paramount importance. Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide adaptations for people who satisfy a needs assessment, eligibility criteria and means test. Indeed, this Government have boosted funding for the disabled facilities grant by £86 million annually.