Veterans and the benefits system: Influencing policy and practice through qualitative longitudinal research

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus in the UK on support provided to those who have served in the Armed Forces, with the publication of the Armed Forces Covenant (2011), the ten-year Strategy for our Veterans (2018) and the creation of the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (2019). At the same time, the UK has witnessed a period of unprecedented welfare reform that has impacted some of the most vulnerable people in UK society. However, significant changes to both ‘Veterans support’ and ‘welfare reform’ appear to have been developed in parallel, with little consideration for how welfare reforms are experienced by Veterans, particularly from a qualitative perspective.

Since 2017, academics at the University of Salford have been leading a groundbreaking project funded by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) called Sanctions, Support and Service Leavers [hereafter SSSL]. It was developed specifically to explore the experiences of Veterans as they navigated the mainstream benefits system and represents the only project of its kind within the UK.

The project involves two main methods:

1. Qualitative longitudinal research with Veterans (undertaken at approximately 9 – 12 month intervals)^[1]
2. Consultation with key policy and practice stakeholders.

This research has highlighted the significant challenges that Veterans can face across various aspects of claiming benefits, including application processes, benefits assessments, managing conditionality, interactions with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), and intersections between benefits and Armed Forces compensation and pensions.

The project originally ran for two years (2017–2019) and the team produced a significant report that made a series of practical recommendations, including:

• Ensuring that guidance on the social security system is included as a routine part of the resettlement support provided to those leaving the UK Armed Forces.
• Ensuring that having an Armed Forces background is consistently recorded by the DWP and that disclosure of an Armed Forces background triggers consideration of how best to support people, including signposting Veterans to relevant organisations that can provide support with transition issues.
• Reviewing the benefits assessment process to ensure that assessors are suitably qualified to assess mental and physical health issues related to Service in the Armed Forces.
• Reviewing the Armed Forces Champion role to ensure consistency in the support provided through the role.

The team’s 2019 report reached a wide audience, including citation within parliamentary debate and dissemination at a range of significant forums both within and outside the military arena (for example, citation within the report focusing on poverty in the UK published by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Professor Philip Alston). In relation to policy and practice impact, the team have worked closely with the DWP since the beginning of the project, and the DWP were able to use the report to enhance their Armed Forces Champions network, introduce new Armed Forces Leads, and introduce a new Armed Forces marker on Universal Credit.  

In recognition of the impact of the project, in 2020 it was extended for a further three years to ensure that the experiences of Veterans were understood during the ongoing period of significant welfare reform, particularly the implementation of Universal Credit (UC). To date, the project has included 108 Veterans, carrying out 260+ interviews with them across various waves, and consulted with over 60 stakeholders representing local government, national government, and the third sector.

The contribution of the project has grown with its continuation. In 2021, the project made the first call for the application of trauma-informed principles within the UK benefits system[. This applied a trauma informed lens to demonstrate how the benefits system was ‘trauma blind’ and, in some cases, re-traumatising. In our analysis of Veterans’ experiences, it was clear that a trauma-informed approach would provide a number of benefits:

1. Improving the social and emotional well-being of the individual claimant but also family members including spouses and children;
2. Leading to employment gains (as Veterans identified unresolved trauma as a barrier to entering and sustaining paid work);
3. Improving the well-being of DWP staff. The DWP has recently embarked on a new project that focuses specifically on the integration of trauma-informed approaches within the department.

The research team have already supported this project through a bespoke report drawing out data on specific aspects of the system that can be challenging for Veterans and will soon start a new project working collaboratively with DWP to support the evaluation of the trauma integration project.   

In addition, in response to the government’s recent announcement to change some of the benefits assessment processes, including the proposal to scrap the Work Capability Assessment, the team are currently writing a report that draws out Veterans’ experiences of benefits assessments and the implications for the proposed changes. This report will be published in December. 

Finally, although the study was originally designed to explore experiences of mainstream benefits, the data captured by the team is also providing important insights into how Veterans experience some of the other financial support systems that they are interacting with – particularly the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme. With the recent review of welfare services for Veterans recommending trauma-informed practice, and with the DWP, the Ministry of Justice, the NHS, Social Security Scotland, and many others now applying a trauma-informed lens, this represents a pivotal moment to ensure that all our financial support systems are appropriately supporting Veterans.

For more information about the project, please contact Professor Lisa Scullion: [email protected] 

The project outputs (to date) can be accessed here:

1. Scullion, L., Young, D., Martin, P., Hynes, C., Pardoe, J. and Curchin, K. (2023) Towards a trauma-informed social security system Lessons from the Sanctions, Support and Service Leavers project, online at: https://www.fimt-rc.org/article/20230509-towards-a-trauma-informed-social-security-system
2. Jones, K., Scullion, L., Hynes, C. and Martin, P. (2022) ‘Accessing and sustaining work after Service: the role of Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP) and implications for HRM’, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, online at: https://www.fimt-rc.org/article/20221123-accessing-and-sustaining-work-after-service-the-role-of-active-labour-market-policies-almp-and-implications-for-hrm
3. Scullion, L., Hynes, C., Martin, P. and Young, D. (2022) ‘Social security during Covid-19: The experiences of military Veterans’, in K. Garthwaite, R. Patrick, M. Power, A. Tarrant and R. Warnock (eds) Covid-19 Collaborations: Researching Poverty and Low-Income Family Life during the Pandemic. Bristol: Policy Press, online at: https://www.fimt-rc.org/article/20220531-social-security-during-covid-19-the-experiences-of-military-veterans
4. Scullion, L., Jones, K., Dwyer, P., Hynes, C. and Martin, P. (2021) ‘Military Veterans and welfare reform: bridging two policy worlds through qualitative longitudinal research’, Social Policy and Society, online at: https://www.fimt-rc.org/article/20210517-military-veterans-and-welfare-reform-bridging-two-policy-worlds-through-qualitative-longitudinal-research
5. Scullion, L. and Curchin, K. (2021) ‘Examining Veterans’ Interactions with the UK Social Security System through a Trauma-Informed Lens’, Journal of Social Policy, online at: https://www.fimt-rc.org/article/20210128-examining-veterans-interactions-with-the-uk-social-security-system-through-a-trauma-informed-lens
6. Scullion, L., Dwyer, P., Jones, K., Martin, P. and Hynes, C. (2019) Sanctions, Support & Service Leavers: Social security benefits and transitions from military to civilian life: Final report, online at: https://www.fimt-rc.org/article/20190705-sanctions-support-service-leavers
7. Scullion, L., Dwyer, P., Jones, K., Martin, P. and Hynes, C. (2018) Sanctions, Support & Service Leavers: Social security benefits, welfare conditionality and transitions from military to civilian life: First-wave findings, online at: https://www.fimt-rc.org/article/20180420-sanctions-support-service-leavers-welfare-conditionality-and-transitions-from-military-to-civilian-life-first-wave-findings

Thank you to Professor Lisa Scullion for writing this spotlight article outlining this important project highlighting the considerable challenges that Veterans can face when navigating the UK benefits system. 

Footnotes

^{[1] One to one interviews with Veterans using the welfare system at various time points.}