Resources for Vets, 1st Responders and Their Families

Serving HMForces & Veterans:

SSAFA is a charity that does whatever it takes to get things done. They provide practical support and assistance to servicemen and women, veterans, and their families, every day of the year.

Cobseo, as the Confederation of Service Charities, provides a single point of contact for interaction with Government, including local government and the Devolved Administrations; with the Royal Household; with the Private Sector; and, of course, with other members of the Armed Forces Community. This allows Cobseo members to interact with all interested parties and especially to cooperate and collaborate with others in order to provide the best possible level of support to our beneficiaries.

The Army Benevolent Fund The Soldiers’ Charity are for soldiers, for life, that provides financial assistance to all soldiers and their families when in need. The scope of their work is huge. Half of their money is given direct to individuals to help in areas such as debt relief, mobility assistance, education bursaries, care home fees and respite breaks. The other half is given as grants to other charities.

The RAF Benevolent Fund supports the RAF family that are either serving or former members of the RAF as well as their partners and dependent children.

The Royal Navy Benevolent Trust provides support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel and their families. Every year, they provide financial assistance to thousands of members of The RNBT family during times of need.

Combat Stress is the leading Veterans' mental health charity in the UK providing  treatment for ex-Service personnel suffering with mental ill-health including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD, Anxiety and Depression. It doesn't matter how young or old you are, where you Served, or whether you saw combat.

Community Covenants complement, at a local level, the armed forces covenant, which outlines the moral obligation between the nation, the government and the armed forces. The aim of the community covenant is to encourage local communities to support the armed forces community in their area and promote understanding and awareness among the public of issues affecting the armed forces community.

Royal British Legion Industries (Poppy Factory) provides support, care and employment for those disadvantaged by disability, a health condition or social welfare needs.

The Royal British Legion provides practical, emotional and financial support to all members of the British Armed Forces past and present, and their families. They actively campaign to improve their lives and safeguard the Military Covenant between the nation and its Armed Forces. The RBL also organise the Poppy Appeal, run one of the UK's largest membership organisations and are recognised as the nation's custodian of Remembrance.

Veterans UK is part of Defence Business Services (DBS) within the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and administers the Armed Forces Pension Schemes serving around 900,000 members of the Armed Forces community. It also administers compensation payments for those injured or bereaved through service and provides a package of welfare support for veterans via a national Veterans Welfare Service and veterans helpline facility.

Defence Medical Welfare Service, supporting the Armed Services 24 hours a day. The only charity to deploy to areas of conflict to support the troops on the frontline, and the first welfare service that military personnel will see when they are wounded, injured or sick.

 

1st Responders:

The Blue Lamp Foundation was established in October 2010 by PC David Rathband after he was shot and blinded by gunman Raoul Moat in Northumbria. He realised there was a need to provide financial aid when members of the emergency services are injured in the line of duty and incurred unexpected costs such as hospital parking, childcare, medical aids, transport to and from appointments and general out of pocket expenses.

Care of Police Survivors (COPS) was founded in March 2003 by Jim McNulty and Christine Fulton. Jim was a retired police officer from Strathclyde Police. Christine is the widow of PC Lewis Fulton who was murdered on duty in Glasgow in 1994. All our survivors have experience of tragedy, which gives them a unique understanding of the overwhelming grief and confusion that is encountered by new survivors. COPS makes contact with the survivors of every new death on duty, explaining what COPS does and inviting survivors to make contact when they are ready for such support.

Police Rehabilitation Centre, Flint House. Every year, a team of highly skilled physiotherapists and healthcare professionals assist over 3,500 injured police officers to get back to full operational health. Through an ever-increasing range of specialist intensive treatments and care services, the focus of everyone working at Flint House is on assisting officers back to duty quickly, effectively and with long lasting results.

The Police Treatment Centres (PTC) provides two treatment centres – one in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and one in Auchterarder, Perthshire. Serving and retired police officers can receive intensive physiotherapy, recuperation and treatments following an illness or injury, on or off duty, to aid their return to better health and wellbeing. A new 2 week structured psychological wellbeing programme has been introduced specifically for serving patients who need support with stress, anxiety and other such conditions. Treatment is generally provided on a residential basis, however where provision allows outpatient and day patient services can be offered.

The St George’s Police Children Trust is a registered charity which aims to support Police families by helping ease the financial pressures of bringing up children in the face of life-changing circumstances. These circumstances could involve the loss of either parent (whether or not they are a Serving or Retired Police Officer) or the Police Officer parent being unable to earn an income due to illness or injury, sustained on or off duty.

The Scottish Police Benevolent Fund is the official charity of the Police Service of Scotland. The purpose of the fund is to assist any person who has or used to have a direct connection with the Police Service of Scotland (or any former Police Force within Scotland) who is suffering from poverty or disadvantage due to age, ill health or disability. It also assists the dependants of those directly affected. The Fund also supports the Police Treatment Centre in Scotland and other charities that deal with the welfare of any person directly connected to the Police Service of Scotland.

The Fire Fighters Charity supports thousands of beneficiaries a year through a broad range of services. The support we offer is short term and will be focused on addressing your needs. All input is aimed towards individuals being able to manage their condition or situation effectively at home. This reablement approach is interdisciplinary, with Physiotherapists, exercise therapists and psychological therapists all involved in programme delivery. 

TASC The Ambulance Staff Charity is the leading UK charity providing support to present and past ambulance staff and their families in time of need. The Charity was formed through the collaboration of a number of funds across the UK including the Ambulance Services Benevolent Fund to create a national fund for the benefit of ambulance staff working in any area of the NHS and independent sector ambulance services, whether you are a front line paramedic, support staff or mechanic looking after the fleet.  Whatever your role, if you are in difficulty, whatever that difficulty, TASC may be able to help.