Financial assistance to serving and retired RN and RM Officers in distress.
Contact Information
London
W2 3TP
Support Offered
Grants and benefits. Financial help to maintain children in private education
Financial assistance to serving and retired RN and RM Officers in distress.
Grants and benefits. Financial help to maintain children in private education
WRVS Services Welfare delivers an independent and confidential welfare support service, which is responsive to the needs of single and unaccompanied service personnel at military establishments in the UK and abroad.
WRVS is part of the Royal Voluntary Service.
• Centres at designated MoD establishments where service personnel can relax and meet with friends in an alcohol free environment.
• An area where service personnel can speak to trained welfare professionals.
Sharks Community Trust is the charitable arm of Sale Sharks, the North West’s only Premiership Rugby club. The charity was established in 2012 to help use rugby and sport for the wider community benefit, drawing on the core values of rugby, which are teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship, to deliver a range of community engagement programmes.
The use of rugby and sport has been used for many years to engage young people, and it is this interest that Sharks Community Trust seeks to draw upon. This includes delivering numeracy programmes in the classroom, linking sport with encouraging healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle, and delivering education particularly to young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET). The Trust also has a comprehensive disability and inclusion programme, ‘In The Pack’ delivering a mixture of multi-sports and wheelchair sports to people with special and additional needs along with a successful ex-service personnel programme ‘Sharks Forces’ that supports veterans and their families with the transition from service to civilian with housing, employment and social and physical activity support.
We offer services and activities to improve the physical health, mental health and employability skills of ex-service personnel and their families. We give them a visibility within their community delivering the project at community venues. Delivering drop-in social hubs to develop and maintain relationships with individuals who are sceptical and nervous at engaging with civilian society. Enhancing personal and social skills such as communication skills and confidence along with increasing employability skills and their well-being. We also work with the veteran’s family, introducing an intergenerational approach. We use our relationship with community rugby clubs across the North West to create a social hub for the whole community. We use gym and sport facilities based within clubs and use the clubhouse to host themed workshops. We also work closely with rugby clubs to identify volunteering opportunities as part of the programme. We create and offer a wide range of sporting activities for Veterans who are blind or visually impaired, there is a huge gap in the local offering from other key stakeholders in regards to physical activities suitable for Veterans with additional needs.
A world of opportunity exists for ex-Servicemen and women when they leave the Armed Forces. SaluteMyJob is a business with a social purpose that works to connect members of the Armed Forces community with the opportunities available to them.
Helping jobseekers at any stage of their military transition or career journey to plan and prepare for their next job, SaluteMyJob provides free employment-related resources, advice and training to veterans, reservists and their families. SaluteMyJob’s free online training platform, which is exclusive to the Armed Forces community, enables them to adapt or develop the skills they need to improve their competitiveness and to secure successful employment.
Alongside its career support, SaluteMyJob works with supportive employers around the UK to provide the Armed Forces community with access to relevant jobs, work placements, apprenticeships and more. These organisations and their opportunities feature in SaluteMyJob’s unique directory of Forces-friendly employers.
Samaritans provides completely confidential emotional support face-to-face and via phone, email and text message, around the clock every day of the year. Last year this equated to 5.3m contacts for support. Our 21,000 volunteers, working in our network of 201 branches across the UK and the Republic of Ireland answering a call for help every six seconds and are trained to support people in emotional distress and vulnerable situations, such as those faced by veterans, reservists and service families; mental health issues, relationship breakdown, financial difficulties and suicidal thoughts.
Completely confidential emotional support face-to-face and via phone, email and text message, around the clock every day of the year.
The Scar Free Foundation is a medical research charity; our vision is a world without scarring. Our mission is to achieve scar free healing within a generation and transform the millions of lives affected by scarring.
The Foundation has a 25-year track record dedicated to advancing pioneering research into would healing and disfigurement. We take pride in our association with the Armed Forces and veteran community, emphasizing a pivotal aspect of our mission: enhancing the physical and psychological wellbeing of this distinguished group. At the heart of our commitment lies The Scar Free Foundation Centre for Conflict Wound Research, where uniformed and civilian scientists and clinicians collaborate synergistically. Together, they strive to elevate both immediate and long-term rehabilitative therapies, aiming to significantly improve the lives of Armed Forces personnel wounded in conflict.
Provide supported independent living accommodation for ex-Service people and ex-Merchant mariners who are homeless or in need.
Help with benefits and pensions.
Financial support for residents on very low incomes.
128 high quality, single, en-suite rooms with full catering service in Edinburgh and Dundee. 25 affordable rental flats.
Practical, emotional and welfare support including housing support. 24 hour support warden cover.
Seafarers’ Advice & Information Line (SAIL) is a free advice service supporting active and former seafarers across the UK. This includes the Naval Service.
All advice is free and confidential. SAIL’s advice is given over the phone, by email or by post. SAIL also attends the VOS every month in Portsmouth.
SAIL is part of Citizens Advice.
Seafarers’ Advice & Information Line (SAIL) offers free advice and support to anyone who’s ever served in the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the Reserves, as well as their partners. SAIL has 8 professional advisers.
Advice is given on a wide range of issues, for example debt, benefits, housing, immigration, the practicalities of relationship breakdown and much more.
Contact SAIL free on 0800 160 1842. For more on SAIL see www.sailine.org.uk
Service Dogs UK is a unique charity that partners Veterans with PTSD from the Armed Forces and Emergency Services with specially selected dogs from ‘rescue’. Once partnered they embark on a 9 – 12 month journey together, where under our expert guidance, they reach accreditation as an Assistance Dog Partnership.
There is no cost to the Veteran for the dog, the equipment, training, food or insurance, the charity pays all the costs of running the programme until the partnership eventually becomes accredited. It is a challenging journey but the Veterans are supported every step of the way as they work alongside other Veterans with PTSD and mentors who have completed the course. They learn to work as a team, to get to know each others needs and to become an excellent partnership that is proud to be seen in public and wear the special red harness.
All of our Veterans have free ongoing support from us for the life of the partnership and are prioritised for successor dogs. A re-test is required every year at no cost to the Veteran, the continuous support and assistance provided by the charity is part of our commitment to those who have served.
Our training methods and our programme have been formulated following extensive research with the help of a Churchill Fellowship in the USA and the Netherlands. The programme has been proven at every level and is the only UK PTSD Assistance Dog Programme accredited internationally and the only member of Assistance Dogs UK.
At each Hub we have a dedicated training team who are there to guide the prospective teams through the programme and onto accreditation. We have Veteran mentors who are on hand to provide support throughout the programme and we link in with other Armed Forces Charities to try and ensure ‘wrap around’ assistance if required.
Established in 1915 to support servicemen who were blinded in WWI, today we help blind and partially sighted veterans no matter how or when they lost their sight – including those who did national service – to adapt to life with a visual impairment.
Our offer is as diverse as those we support. We know that everyone faces different challenges and that everyone’s goals are individual. That’s why our team work with everyone in the way which is right for them.
We give support that ranges from practical advice and identifying solutions that help you stay as independent as possible, to vital emotional support and opportunities to meet others facing sight loss.
Sight Scotland Veterans can also provide specialist equipment free of charge to aid independence in day-to-day tasks – from talking watches, cooking aids and electronic magnifiers, to digital technology such as smartphones or tablets with specialist software for people with sight loss.
The charity’s expert rehabilitation team offer one-to-one assessments and tailored training for specialist equipment and cane and mobility training.
Sight Scotland Veterans also runs two activity hubs for veterans with sight loss: the Linburn Centre in Wilkieston, West Lothian, and the Hawkhead Centre in Paisley, Renfrewshire.
Afghanistan support
In light of recent events in Afghanistan, please find information and support resources here