The Armed Forces Covenant and Veterans Annual Report, published by the Government (19 Dec 2022) and covering the period 2021-2022, details the key improvements and progress on the Covenant’s core goals. These goals include improving the lives of service people and their families, and the Government’s commitment to make the UK the best place in the world to be a veteran by 2028

Minister for Defence People, Veterans and Service Families, Dr Andrew Murrison, said:

The Annual Report shows the Covenant continuing to go from strength to strength. Partners across the UK have been working hard to support those who currently serve, have served and their families.

So it’s a big thank you to all those organisations who have worked tirelessly to use the Covenant and the nation’s commitment to veterans as a springboard to improve the lived experiences of our Armed Forces community.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer said:

The Armed Forces Covenant is a key way in which organisations from across society can support our veterans.

We’ve seen good progress this year, in particular in the areas of healthcare, with the inclusion of veterans health in GP training.

I look forward to building on these successes in 2023.

Highlights from this year’s report include:

• Armed Forces Covenant signings are rapidly approaching 10,000, with 1,634 signings over the last 12 months.
• A £5 million Veterans’ Health Innovation Fund has been launched. This will support organisations looking to research and trial cutting-edge technology which could help veterans with complex healthcare needs.
• The inclusion of veterans’ health in the GP training curriculum and national GP licensing assessment in England and Scotland.
• The Office for Veterans’ Affairs published the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan 2022-24, setting out over 60 commitments, with over £70 million of additional funding from across Government to further improve the lives of our veteran community.
• A further 528 GP surgeries have been accredited as ‘veteran-friendly’, taking the total to 1,578.
• The Government also fulfilled its 2019 manifesto commitment to ‘further incorporate the Armed Forces Covenant into law’.

Read the Full report and summary : Here