Shropshire Council helping to find homes for veterans under armed forces covenant
Shropshire Council has pledged its support for the potential provision of housing for ex-service personnel on the Copthorne Barracks site in Shrewsbury.
To date 73 former members of the Armed Forces have been housed in the Shropshire Council area since 2015 thanks to work carried out by Shropshire Council and its partners in the Shropshire Armed Forces Covenant partnership.
Now the council has said it will work with all partners, developers, the land owners, Shrewsbury’s MP and the Light Infantry Veterans group to see what can be achieved at the Copthorne Barracks site, including potential military provision, taking planning policy into account
Shropshire Council signed the Armed Forces Covenant in 2012. The Covenant is a voluntary pledge of support for Shropshire’s Armed Forces communities, both past and present.
As a signatory to the Military Covenant the council endeavours to ensure that current and former members of the British Armed Forces are not disadvantaged with respect to accessing public services such as children’s school places, affordable housing and adult social care provision.
The work carried out by the authority has ensured it was recognised by the Ministry of Defence in 2014 who awarded the Council with a Silver Employer Recognition Award.
Shropshire Council and the Shropshire Armed Forces Covenant partnership prides itself on its hard work on the Covenant, having been praised nationally amongst its peers. Partners including the Royal British Legion, SSAFA, Enable, Remember Veterans, RAF Shawbury & 11th Signal and West Midlands Brigade, to mention but a few.
The Shropshire Covenant partnership are instrumental in changing key policies that ensure the Armed Forces community are not disadvantaged by their service to our country, or their families service. An example of this is through the council’s allocations for social housing. Veterans and transitioning members of HM Armed Forces who require social housing are provided an additional preference to those who have served and have a local connection.
After being made aware of a petition regarding the proposed development at Copthorne Barracks, a successful meeting was held last week between the Light Infantry Veterans campaign group and Shropshire Councillors.
Tim Barker, Armed Forces Covenant Chair, said:
“Shropshire Council signed the Armed Forces Covenant in 2012 in a voluntary pledge of support for Shropshire’s Armed Forces communities, and Shropshire is amongst the leading counties with regard to our Covenant work, which includes co-ordinating, facilitating and generally helping to harness the work of The Armed Forces, associated charities and ex-services personnel.
“As a signatory to the Covenant the council endeavours to ensure that former members of the British Armed Forces are not disadvantaged with respect to access to affordable housing and to ensure a reasonable supply of affordable housing is made available to them, though unfortunately this isn’t always in our hands.”
Mal Price, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for planning and housing, said:
“No-one wants to see anyone in housing need, military veteran or not. The land at Copthorne Barracks does not belong to Shropshire Council but we will work with all partners, developers and the land owners, Daniel Kawczynski MP and the Light Infantry Veterans group to see what can be achieved at the site, including potential military provision, taking planning policy into account.”
Mr Norman McGuiggan, part of the Light Infantry Veterans campaign, said:
“We were pleased to have the recent opportunity to meet with Shropshire councillors regarding Copthorne Barracks. The meeting, which had been arranged some weeks ago, was extremely constructive and informative. Everyone is looking for the best outcome for this historic site and the local community. So we were not surprised to learn of their support for the potential of military ex-service housing provision on the site, as stated – yet another demonstration of Shropshire’s long and proud commitment to and connections with the military, for which the veteran community are always grateful.”
Further information
Armed Forces Day 2017 is on Saturday 24 June. Shropshire Council is coordinating community events across Shropshire and will publish details of all events to media outlets closer to the date.
Shropshire Council and the Armed Forces Covenant – briefing note
Housing Benefit / Council Tax support
When making a housing benefit/council tax claim, veterans of HM Armed Forces may receive extra support, potentially 100% relief from certain military pensions will be discounted and won’t count against them during their financial assessment.
Social Housing allocation
Any Veteran or transitioning service person will receive ‘gold banding’ which is an additional preference for military personnel. This is no guarantee of housing provision, but puts them on a higher band than might otherwise have been possible given their military service.
- Rehoused in 2016 – 32
- Rehoused in 2015 – 41
Armed For Coaching
A Grant was awarded to provide service personnel, their families and veterans with coaching badges and certificates to help integrate them in to the civilian community. So far over 80 interested individuals have come forward with 25% of those expected to complete a course and start delivering coaching sessions in the community by 31 March.
Shropshire Council supportive HR policy for reservists
Shropshire Council provides additional two weeks paid leave to reservists as well as a range of mental health support upon return from deployment for Shropshire Council staff who are reservists.
The service premium
This is designed to support children with parents serving in the British armed forces. Shropshire Council promotes the £300 per pupil and shares best practice how to spend this money to ensure the child gets the highest benefit.
Military children with Special educational needs (SEN)
A new procedure is in operation for military personnel who are posted from elsewhere and who have a child with SEN. The new procedure ensures finding the correct provision for the child before the family are posted so the child doesn’t miss any school.
Business
Shropshire Council facilitates Corporate Covenant singings. To date 48 businesses have signed up and are active in Shropshire. These include national (with local centres) and local businesses.
What do we facilitate and promote? Recruitment of veterans, spouses and reservists, support for Armed Forces Day, discounts on services, supportive HR policy for reservists.
Employment
The ‘Home Straight’ – supporting veterans into employment project, provided by Shropshire Council’s Enable service and charity ‘Walking with the Wounded’, offers individualised support in finding the right job for each person, as well as time-unlimited assistance in the job, to both the veteran and the employer. There have been 17 paid outcomes (employment) so far from 35 referrals.
Community
- Armed Forces Day – We coordinate and facilitate all events happening around Shropshire. We also provide free golf and swimming sessions to the whole military community throughout that week/weekend.
- Shrewsbury Town FC Match Day – Coordinating events such as this – giving civilians and our local armed forces personnel the chance to meet.
- Day in the life of… RAF Shawbury. A day spent in the company of RAF staff was live-tweeted about on social media to give the public a flavour of what the RAF base is and what its staff do on a daily basis.
Veterans in the criminal justice system
National Covenant funding was awarded to the ‘Remember Veterans’ project. Designed by YSS and Ubique Partnerships the project was created to ensure professionals within the criminal justice system, such as lawyers, police officers, courts, probation officers etc ask the question “Are you a veteran?” 40 total referrals (6 from Shropshire) with 16 coming from custody suites from local police stations.
Veterans’ mental health support
Covenant partners Combat Stress have a treatment centre located in Shropshire to support vulnerable veterans with mental health support. Additionally, the charity complete many hours of support in the community throughout Shropshire supporting veterans living and working in Shropshire, and also the wider area (Wales and the West Midlands).
60 Veterans from Shropshire are currently ‘under care’ (56 male, 4 female) with 77 having had an assessment and 17 signposted elsewhere. The vast majority of referrals are ex-army, male and aged 45-49 years old.
