Insights for Organisations Ex-Forces

Introducing the Veteran’s Strategy Action Plan

John Smith
24.06.22

The UK government recently announced the launch of the Veteran’s Strategy Action Plan: 2022-2024, a comprehensive plan that outlines the steps the country will take to improve the lives of British veterans over the next three years.

At FDM, it is our mission to support ex-forces from all ranks to make the transition back into the civilian working world and thrive outside of the military. We believe the new Veteran’s Strategy Action Plan is a major milestone and will play a key role in supporting the cause. Let’s take a closer look at what this new government plan consists of, the real impact it will have for ex-forces and their families, and what you, as a business, can expect following the roll-out of these new initiatives.

What is the Veteran’s Strategy Action Plan?

Following on from the 2018 Strategy For Our Veterans, the Veteran’s Strategy Action Plan is a new initiative set out by the UK government to support veterans from 2022 to 2024. The government has committed £70m to support the proposed plans, which consists of five key focus areas:

  1. Providing support for veterans and their families
  2. Improving veteran employability
  3. Giving the veteran community a voice and learning from their experiences
  4. Addressing historic operations and making positive changes
  5. Standardising the high level of support for veterans across the UK

The government pledges to “make the UK the best place in the world to be a veteran by 2028.”

How will the new Veteran’s Action Plan help ex-forces personnel?

The Veteran’s Action Plan sets out to empower ex-forces and help improve their livelihoods with a number of initiatives. We’ll run you through how exactly the government proposes to achieve this, honing in on some of the key government plans.

Support veterans and their families

Improve veteran employability

Review the historic hurt or disadvantage of certain veteran communities

Addressing historic operations and their impact

Ensuring a high standard of support across the UK

These are just some of the 60 new plans the government sets out to achieve with the launch of Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan. Read the full Plan for more information.

What impact will the Veteran’s Action Plan have for employers?

The Veteran’s Action Plan will improve employability for ex-forces, providing appropriate training and job accessibility. As such, this new government project will also widen the talent pool for employers, giving them access to a highly skilled and experienced workforce.

The Ministry of Defense estimates that there are over 2 million armed forces veterans residing in Great Britain, with the number of working-age veterans predicted to increase significantly in the coming years. Unfortunately, the veteran employment gap is still prominent. Many working-age vets are left without full-time work; are in part-time employment or unable to fully exercise their skills or experience within their new role, leaving them working unfulfilling jobs where they are overqualified. In fact, veterans are statistically much less likely to be in full or part-time employment than the general population.

Yet, this is at a loss for employers. A military career equips individuals with a variety of transferable skills, niche role-specific skills and life experiences – a lot of which cannot be learnt in school or working behind a desk! Critical thinking, compassion, adaptability, initiative and time management are just a few of the many skills acquired throughout the military and that are desirable traits for any civilian job. In addition to impeccable soft skills, armed forces have some of the best engineering and technical training in the world, making them the ideal candidates for roles in these sectors, too.

However, government initiatives can only do so much. Ex-forces have the potential to make a valuable contribution to your business and bring new perspectives to your teams, so long as you give them the opportunity and the right support. We understand that building this infrastructure internally can take time and money, and will not always be possible for some businesses.

That’s why we offer renowned training programmes and ongoing professional and wellbeing support for junior and senior ex-forces personnel looking to launch a civilian career. This means that the clients we work with can benefit from a highly skilled talent pipeline across a range of roles and industries, as well as access to our existing employee support networks.

If you’re interested in building your future talent pipeline and hiring Ex-Forces, check out our consultant services or view our brochure for more information.