Tri-Service
Budget: War Pension Changes And £33m In Libor Grants
The Chancellor has announced in the Budget that £33 million from the Libor Fund will go to military charities and to support military personnel.
Among the grants is £3.5m for the Samaritans to set up a service offering armed forces staff and their families tailor-made confidential support services.
The charity will receive the money over three years to develop a programme that helps military personnel, veterans and their loved ones identify when someone may need emotional support.
They will then be able to access Samaritans’ services more easily, whether they are in the UK or stationed overseas.
George Osborne also announced a pension change for veterans.
They will now be allowed to keep payments from war pensions rather than using them to pay for social care.
From April 2017 4,000 armed forces veterans will be able to keep payments from their war pensions if they need social care.
Among the other Libor grants £5m will be used to to co-fund new facilities for Royal Navy personnel at Faslane and local people in Helensburgh.
Among the other Libor grants that affect those in the forces family are:
£5m for the National Mesothelioma Centre to establish a centre of research in the fight against mesothelioma, the asbestos-related cancer.
£100k for Hostage UK to improve support to British hostages and their families.
£2.5m for Rescue Global to provide rapid global disaster response support utilising former service personnel.
£2.7m for Royal British Legion Industries to support the delivery of specialist nursing care to veterans through flexible care suites and a day‐care facility.
£958k for Royal British Legion Industries to deliver intensive employment support to long term unemployed veterans across the UK.
£316k for Recruit For Spouses to assist service spouses back into work.
£500k for CAIS Wales' to deliver a referral pathway for veterans in Wales through their Change Step Veteran Services.
The Royal British Legion welcomed the budget announcement. A spokesperson said:
“We welcome the Chancellor’s recognition today of this important issue and his pledge to exempt all military injury compensation from means testing for social care contribution assessments in England."
"It is disappointing that the changes will not take effect for another year but we look forward to working with the government to secure their implementation, and to ensure it is also applied to the rest of the United Kingdom.”
There is no overall change to the defence budget.
Forces TV is available on Sky 264, Virgin 277 and Freesat 652.
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