Corporate report

VAPC east Midlands: annual report 2019 to 2020

Published 19 February 2021

Veterans Advisory and Pension Committee Annual activity report dated 17 December 2020

Achievement against VAPC objectives

Membership changes

Departures:

• Peter Poole: Chair for 10 years
• Patrick Rendall: Vice Chair for 6 years
• Bill Dixon-Dodds: member for 10 years (agreed to remain as a Co-Opted member)
• Ray Boyfield - Member for 10 years
• Gillian Ekins: change of family circumstances
• Julia Taberham: change of family circumstances
• Bentley Strafford-Stephenson: change of family circumstances.

Arrivals following 2019 Recruitment campaign:

• Samantha Wileman
• George Ellison
• Andrew Holt
• Thomas Smith.

Current membership (15 in total)

• Barry Smith CBE, Chairman
• Richard Hurwood, Vice Chairman
• Larry Henson, Secretary
• David Taylor, Sub-committee head
• Michael Whitehead, Sub-committee head
• Helen Drew-Bradley
• Samantha Wileman
• John Berry
• George Ellison
• Andrew Holt
• Stav Melides
• Thomas Smith
• David Wilson
• Jim Wright.

Co-opted member

• Bill Dixon-Dodds.

Raising awareness activity

Underpinning all of our activities both in terms of raising awareness and engagement is our Strategic Plan. Individual Sub-Committees are responsible for delivering their own annual Business Plans.

Following the publication of the new Strategy for Veterans and the subsequent delay in the publication of its associated consultation activity, the annual development of these various plans was put on hold until the future direction of travel, in terms of the various policy initiatives and their implementation by service providers, was made clear. The formation of the Office for Veteran Affairs by the new government has also impacted our activities as we seek to understand our future relationship with this new body, one of whose roles includes coordination to obtain easier access for Veterans to public services and strengthening engagement with the local delivery of these services.

Ministers also want the same level of engagement/support irrespective of where the Veteran lives. We have tried to ensure that common messaging on veteran issues occurred, correcting misconceptions that became prevalent through social media and other outlets on the support provided to the Veteran community in this challenging year. However, the dominant issue impacting our activity this year has been COVID-19 as virtually all face-to face contact with both the veteran and wider civil community has ceased at various times as a result of the pandemic.

Armed Forces Day, VE Day as well as VJ Day and Remembrance Sunday activities were all curtailed in terms of large scale public events in the region. Despite this constraint, we have continued to publish the various initiatives and events focussed on the armed forces community in our region on our Twitter feed as well as through the network of Covenant Officers in the different Counties.

In terms of the Armed Forces Covenant (AFC) itself, within the East Midlands (EM) region, each of the Counties has established Partnership Boards where the various stakeholders are in attendance and EMVAPC is recognised as a trusted partner in the monitoring of AFC delivery and Covenant development. A highly successful AFC Conference was held in Northamptonshire on 4 Mar 20 which attracted a large number of AFC signatories from industry as well as the public sector. Its theme was: “How do we make the Covenant pledge a reality”, with a focus on employment & training, transition and the needs of industry in Northamptonshire. The model of round table activity to discuss key issues and develop solutions that are specific to the County is a model that has been used successfully in similar events previously across the region. Not only did COVID-19 constraints mean no other such events were planned in the region but in the case of Lincolnshire, the end of Covenant Grant funding for the dedicated Covenant officer post has led to the annual Conference event no longer being feasible.

In addition, individual members have directed Veterans to the various relevant websites addressing recruitment issues and self-employment challenges as well as highlighting the signposting available within the Veterans Gateway.

Engagement

Our focus, in terms of engagement activity with our various stakeholders, continues to be via the relevant joint Civil Military AFC Partnership Boards. The challenge in the region is that the veteran ecosystem is cluttered, congested and to the veteran (and his family), who may well not have engaged for many years with the civilian service provision sector, confusing. These Boards bring together all the stakeholders across the service provision environment - Local Authority (LA), 3rd sector and to some extent the NHS players - although their attendance is patchy depending on the County organisation as well as Board direction. Non-attendance at some of these Boards continues to be an issue in terms of seeing all of the Armed Forces champions, either elected members or the relevant officer. The generation of consolidated Action Plans for these Board meetings also continues to be piecemeal. However, the need to adopt “good practice” initiatives, implement new policies w/r to Veterans and their families and meet the intent of the AFC has been accepted. EMVAPC is a standing member of all of these Boards across the region and as such is a trusted advisor and purveyor of information on the initiatives others have implemented or trialled in our region or elsewhere. Their meeting rhythm has been disrupted by the impact of the pandemic on BAU activity within both the NHS and LA’s. Some of the Board’s have been able to sustain their activities via TEAMS and attempts have been made to hold physical meetings, when it was possible but overall the pace of AFC activity in the region has reduced and momentum lost as officials have been diverted to higher priority tasks associated with regional resilience forums. If this disruption continues, the Boards will no longer meet good governance principles and the gains made in the last 2 years lost.

However, as highlighted in last year’s annual report, the driving force for change and successful implementation of AFC initiatives in our region rests principally on the leadership from the Chair and in the most successful examples, the support provided by the AFC Project Development Officers funded by the Covenant Fund. As these individuals all come to the end of their tenure, there are real concerns that the momentum achieved viz a viz the Covenant and the realised benefits from the Projects will be lost.

Northamptonshire was the first county to face this issue and despite their financial difficulties have continued to fund a dedicated AFC-focussed post for another year. Other Counties have not followed suit. Our view remains that the structural solution we identified last year of regional AFC posts embedded in the different LA’s at County level, with ring fenced new funding, remains the optimum solution to avoid the waste of public resource that not sustaining these dedicated posts will bring. An uplift of this sort would allow Covenant delivery in the LA domain to regain its previous momentum.

We have already seen evidence that the dedicated additional funding for the Forces Champions within the DWP Job Centre Plus offices announced last year is bearing fruit. This is in the form not only of the insight they bring to the Boards of the challenges some of the Veteran Community face during transition but also the training they have delivered to their colleagues, which means the interaction that Veterans have with front line staffs is more understanding of their special needs, particularly in assessment interviews.

Within the NHS domain, our attempts, in partnership with NHS England (E), to establish an EM Armed Forces Network (AFN) focussed on health outcomes and gaps in health pathways for the AF community have been frustrated by a combination of structural reorganisation within NHS(E) as well as staffing gaps. It has been recognised that the previous Strategic Health Authority configuration had developed AFN structures but each was different in the separate geographical regions of the UK and achieved their aims with varying success. No such structure had been developed in the EM and the variable engagement with the appropriate Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) by the various Partnership Boards (as highlighted above) was seen as a shortfall that needed to be addressed. With the advent of the new Long Term Plan for the NHS, the new responsibilities for Veterans health embedded into NHS(E) and the replacement of CCGs by Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), we have engaged with NHS (E) to determine the future route map locally for the veteran community in the area of secondary care. NHS (E) are still trying to digest the import of ICSs but they are recognised as being the main health organisation w/r to service delivery to veterans. What has also been agreed is the need for balance between the operational and strategic levels of command with some things done best at regional/national level and some at county/local level. We stand ready to inform and influence that debate over the balance required in our region. In terms of Primary care, a major issue for our region is that every time the Veterans cause is raised, GP practices are cited as the means of identifying veterans and their families and recognising their needs.

However in reality, GPs have to follow so many NHS (E) directives (although they do have a degree of flexibility over which areas they prioritise) that GP practices cannot fulfil all of the remits placed on them. Hence, although the Veteran Friendly accreditation process led by the RCGP is underway, less than 10% overall nationally have so far been accredited. Given the latest plans for the GP-led Covid-19 vaccination programme, it is unlikely that the accreditation programme will achieve the target date of implementation. Furthermore, the balance between care coordination, accreditation, social prescribing and individual personalised commissioning has yet to be clarified. Our hope is that a Primary Care Network approach will help to concentrate expertise and share knowledge and they will be vital stakeholders in our regional veteran health ecosystem engagement.

Within the Justice domain, members are attempting to improve any interaction between Veterans and the Criminal Justice System in Derbyshire. The engagement has all been Virtual to date but has included the relevant Covenant policy lead within the County Council, the regional SSAFA lead on this issue and the Derbyshire Police.

Other members have through their non-VAPC activities (for example; as the BLESMA Support Officer or those in other 3rd sector constructs), continued to engage with individual veterans on a variety of issues which provides evidenced insight into their needs.

Assistance to Veterans

A successful cross-VAPC boundary activity in support of a veteran in crisis in the Selby area (part of Y&H VAPC) where his particular issues were highlighted by a 3rd sector organisation operating in the EM provide an exemplar of how the regional VAPC organisation can address the silo nature of the welfare support offered to individual veterans by the LA’s. This is exacerbated by the postcode lottery associated with the support provided by the VWS Centres which do not match the regional boundaries of the VAPCs nor the different LA boundaries.

Ongoing support has been offered to a service widow who has a severely disabled child that is in receipt of compensation from the AFPS75. Leicestershire County Council has taken the stance, supported by Vets UK, that in terms of his care costs, only £10 per week should be disregarded. The issue is one of interpretation as the child’s payments are not an occupational pension in the normal sense. Only earners and spouses are identified as beneficiaries under the Pension Schemes Act. The child will never work because of his specific disability and unlike other disabled adults who can work and keep all of their income from paid employment in terms of the disregard for care costs, he cannot retain all of his earnings. It is being argued that the child is being financially discriminated against because of his specific disability and this is contrary to the Care Discrimination Act (1995). Latitude is being sought in the interpretation of the disregard for the payments from AFPS 75 for the child; the numbers of beneficiaries from this re-interpretation are tiny (probably less than 10 nationwide) and would demonstrate a compassion towards this very small community within the veteran families domain.

Support has been provided to a number of Veterans and serving members of the RAF over the eligibility for the Operational Support Medal for Sierra Leone. A comprehensive report was provided to the MOD Medals Office within Vets UK detailing events in May 99 to support the award of the medals to the individuals.

Members have engaged with HM Prisons inmates who are veterans and provided advice and signposting to other key agencies, as appropriate, to help them resolve personal and resettlement issues. Another member is part of an initiative with Barclays Bank where coaching is provided to service leavers to help them into more demanding jobs. Another member is a County Welfare Officer with the British Legion and helps prepare and execute welfare reports for Veterans and their families.

In terms of wider reaching activities and events, COVID-19 has again severely impacted all of the planned engagement with veteran groups be that drop-in centres, Veterans Breakfast Clubs or the Camaraderie Clubs established in the region. Engagement has taken place with the national Director of ASDIC (Association of Service Drop in Centres) to ensure we are aware of all those that have been established under their governance regime in our region. Regular discussions have also taken place with all of the AFC Development Officers In the region as well as the Community Engagement Workers from the major Service charities to gauge the impact of the pandemic on the veteran community - particularly those forced to self-isolate due to underlying health conditions.

Veterans Welfare Service Engagement activity

No visits in support of the VWS have taken place this year principally because of the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on face-to-face meetings. However, the local VWS team have provided an update brief at each of our quarterly committee meetings held over the last year. A request has been made to Vets UK to allow us to join some of the Virtual VWS meetings that are now being held with Veterans.

Consultation

A number of consultations that impact the Veteran community have occurred this year. The Selous report (Living in our Shoes) together with the paper on the New Redundancy Scheme for Members of the AF Pensions Scheme 2015 were significant pieces of work for the committee. In addition, the Covenant in the Community Conference in Nov 20 and the associated engagement activity w/r to the AFC Legislation Proposal Stakeholder Survey is ongoing and will be delivered by 21 December 20. Internally, there was considerable effort undertaken for the 2 Chair Conferences this year with full debate on the key issues we wished to put forward to Minister and to Vets UK on the array of issues faced by the Veteran community in our area. In addition, the major focus over the last 2 months has been on developing the future route map for the VAPCs, seeking Ministerial guidance and endorsement for that future. Following the VAPC Chairs meeting with Min Defence, People and Veterans on 17 November 20, the creation of the consequential documentation set in terms of briefing papers and proposals in terms of the legislative changes that need to be enacted in the AF Bill 2021 which provide the organisation with the necessary revised statutory underpinning for its activities has proved to be a significant effort.

Other activity

The RBL Hearing Fund project which has spent all its Covenant Grant funding has led to an un-resourced gap in the needs of Veterans to receive enhanced hearing capability in our region. Work is underway with University Hospital Leicester for the NHS to lead on the creation of a pilot Veterans Hearing Clinic for the EM. This will provide access to these enhanced capabilities at a significantly reduced cost (approximately one third of that borne during the RBL project) and via the in-house NHS Audiology Department a broader understanding of needs beyond that of just technical solutions. Pilot funding is being sought from NHS (E).

A series of Forces in Mind Trust Veterans & Families Research Forum papers have been utilised to provide training for new members into the complexities of the Veteran support system as well as ensuring that the research reflects the realities of the Veteran community in the EM. The three main reports considered were: Housing Needs for Ageing Veterans; Veterans in the Justice System and Welfare - sanctions support and SL’s. Anomalies and findings have been shared with other Chairs.

In the area of transition, an independent review of the Enhanced Learning Credit scheme, which has a poor take-up in our region, has taken place by sub-committee members. Their analysis is that the scheme is no longer fit for purpose in the modern workplace.

There were a number of successful engagements with the new Defence Transition Service (DTS) to address the Defence Infrastructure Organisation DIO) constraints and failings w/r to Service Leavers (SLs) during Covid-19. There have been a number of issues caused by an inability to provide the necessary paperwork to LA’s for families who were breaking up over the lockdown period and needed evidence of their status as well as excess charges associated with continued occupation of Service Families Accommodation when no alternative provision was possible due to COVID-19 constraints.

Plans for next year

A number of initiatives are underway w/r to Veterans/SLs. In Lincolnshire, working with the Institute of Directors Defence Ambassador alongside the Regional Employment Engagement Director, the DTS and the Federation of Small Business’ s Defence lead a pilot, supported by a coalition of the willing, intends to provide mentoring support to Veterans/SL’s who wish to undertake the self employment route in transition.

The sub-committee looking at training, skills and employment intend to broaden the scope of their analysis to include a review of the work done in Scotland in terms of the mapping of military qualifications against those which are recognised by employers in Scotland and its applicability in England.

Further work on making ELC’s fit for purpose and broadening their scope to include the needs of the spouse will take place. The relevant organisation within MOD has been contacted and we await further engagement on this workstream.

A campaign to address unacceptable DIO overhead costs when Service charities plan to implement Welfare facilities needs to be addressed. There are examples of a 4-fold increase in cost for new facilities leading to a squeeze on available resources and hence, a reduced number of facilities overall. There is also a clear need for the major Service Benevolent funds to be engaged in the MOD 2* Joint Infrastructure Development Board to prevent waste and reduce the cost of implementing welfare improvements late in the cycle of development/improvements in the Firm Base.

Other key points

An extensive recruitment campaign to encourage individuals to apply as Committee members and then the sift and interview process has meant that the pace of activity for the Chair and Deputy has been unrelenting for the last few months. The view has been expressed by members that the new focus on our wider roles and responsibilities demand that a review of the current remuneration for those in work take place and that the daily rate come more into line with those of other, similar government advisory bodies, at approximately £300/day. The concern is that without that sort of investment the membership will become confined to those who are in well-paid retirement and will become less diverse.

Signed: Barry Smith CBE Chair EMVAPC.