To support military personnel in transition to civilian life The army has produced a series of information leaflets titled Transition to Civilian life (Army, 2022) to give guidance on transition and all three services provide resettlement training to help the transition. In recognition of the problems that veterans face there are now many support agencies created to cater specifically for the needs of service veterans. The main and largest of these include:
| Sailors Army Air Force Association (SAAFA) | https://www.ssafa.org.uk |
| Army / Navy / RAF Benevolent Funds | https://soldierscharity.org/ https://www.rnbt.org.uk/ https://www.rafbf.org/ |
| Royal British Legion (RBL) | https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/ |
| Combat Stress | https://combatstress.org.uk/ |
| Help for Hero’s | https://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/ |
| Forces in Mind Trust | https://www.fim-trust.org/ |
| Veterans and Families Research Hub | https://www.vfrhub.com/ |
| The Veterans Foundation | https://www.veteransfoundation.org.uk |
There is also The Confederation of Service Charities (Cobeso) which works to bring these charities together to collaborate to provide the best level of support to beneficiaries (Cobesco, 2022).
In 2011 the UK government recognised there was more that could be done to support veterans that had served their country and created the Armed Forces Covenant (AFC, 2022). It pledges to ensure that those who have served are respected, supported and treated fairly. Support is provided in several areas and ranges from education, career advice, financial assistance and access to health care in collaboration with the MOD, NHS and supporting charities. More than 2500 businesses have signed up and pledged support for the covenant and local authorities employ covenant officers to promote and monitor its implementation. The covenant was enshrined in law as part of the Armed Forces Act 2021 which obliges councils to comply with the principle of the covenant (LGA, 2022).
Most units will have their own associations that hold charitable status and hold veterans as lifetime members. These associations organise reunions for veterans to come together they often have local branches so veterans can come together locally. This can be seen in the RAPTC Constitution and the Duke of Wellington's Regiment Association Facebook page. Veterans also support themselves in organising reunions and social media events on sites such as the Facebook pages I served as a British Soldier and We Walked the Walk.