It was formerly known as the "War Pensions Agency" and was part of the Department of Social Security. When, in 2001, the latter was reorganised into the Department for Work and Pensions, the War Pensions Agency became an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Defence and, in 2003, changed its name to the Veterans Agency.
It was the single point of contact within the MoD for providing information, help and advice on issues of concern to veterans and their families. It did this through its free Helpline, welfare service and website .
The term 'veteran' is used to mean all those who have served in HM Armed Forces (whether Regular or Reserve). This group has been commonly known as ex-Service personnel. The term veteran also includes their widows/widowers and their dependants as part of the veterans' community. As well as all members of the Armed Forces the term veteran also, exceptionally, includes those members of the Merchant Navy who played a vital role in legally defined military operations. The veterans' community is therefore a wide and disparate population, estimated to be over 10 million people in the United Kingdom.
The Agency provided advice on a wide range of subjects including benefits and welfare issues, pensions and compensation, Service records and medals etc.
The Veterans Agency Vision
Service excellence for veterans and Serving personnel.
Core functions
To administer the War Pensions Scheme which provides financial support to approximately 250,000 war pensioners and war widow(er)s living in over 100 countries throughout the world, although most are resident in the UK.
The War Pensioners’ Welfare Service gives support to existing War Pensioners, war widow(er)s and veterans who are in the process of making a claim for a war disablement pension. WPWS will arrange home visits as required to discuss any particular issues that may be affecting individuals. Welfare managers often liaise with colleagues in other Government departments or ex-Service organisations to ensure the best help and advice is supplied where needed.
Ilford Park Polish Home provides residential and nursing care to people who qualify for admission under the 1947 Polish Resettlement Act.
The Agency contributed to a greater awareness of veterans and their concerns, undertaking a programme of PR activity.
Also
The Agency also:
co-ordinated, managed and delivered services to the veterans community as directed by United Kingdom Government;
administered the ex-gratia payment scheme for former prisoners of the Japanese in World War II in accordance with Government policy; and
contributed to advice given to the Department and Ministers on war pensions policy matters.
Additional functions
In addition to the above core functions, the Agency:
provided administrative support to the Central Advisory Committee (CAC) on war pensions and War Pensions Committees (WPC);
administered the nomination of Government appointees to certain charitable bodies
co-ordinated nominations for non-State honours from ex-Service organisations representing war pensioners, war widow(er)s and WPC's; and
A veteran is a person who has significant experience and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer in a military.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a United Kingdom government department of His Majesty's Government responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. As the UK's biggest public service department it administers the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers. It is the second largest governmental department in terms of employees, and the largest in terms of expenditure (£187bn).
SSAFA – the Armed Forces charity, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association, is a UK charity that provides lifelong support to serving men and women and veterans from the British Armed Forces and their families or dependents. Anyone who is currently serving or has ever served in the Royal Navy, British Army or Royal Air Force and their families, both regulars and reserves, is eligible for their help.
It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 federal election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative government, Labor put forward a raft of major policy proposals, accompanied by a television advertising campaign of prominent celebrities singing a jingle entitled It's Time. It was ultimately successful, as Labor picked up eight seats and won a majority. This was the first time Labor had been in government since it lost the 1949 federal election to the Liberal Party.
Pay Commission is set up by Government of India, and gives its recommendations regarding changes in salary structure of its employees set up in 1947, Since India's Independence, seven pay commissions have been set up on a regular basis to review and make recommendations on the work and pay structure of all civil and military divisions of the Government of India. Headquartered in Delhi(India), the commission is given 18 months from date of its constitution to make its recommendations.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the ceremonial commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the country. The Ministry of Defence provides policy framework and resources to the armed forces to discharge their responsibility in the context of the defence of the country. The Indian Armed Forces and Indian Coast Guard under the Ministry of Defence are primarily responsible for ensuring the territorial integrity of India.
The Armed Forces Flag Day or the Flag Day of India is a day dedicated to honouring the soldiers and veterans of India's armed forces. It has been observed annually in India on December 7 since 1949.
The Gurkha Welfare Trust is a British charity established in 1969. It is the principal UK charity for the provision of aid to Gurkha ex-servicemen and their dependants in their homeland of Nepal, and increasingly in the UK and elsewhere.
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) (Māori: Te Manatū Whakahiato Ora) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with advising the government on social policy, and providing social services.
The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions is a ministry of the Government of India in personnel matters specially issues concerning recruitment, training, career development, staff welfare as well as the post-retirement dispensation.
The Service Personnel and Veterans Agency (SPVA) was an executive agency of the UK Ministry of Defence. The SPVA provided personnel, pensions, welfare and support services to members of the UK Armed Forces, veterans and their dependents. It was formed on 2 April 2007 by merging the former Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency (AFPAA) with the Veterans Agency. The agency merged in turn with Defence Business Services (DBS) on 1 April 2014.
The Bureau of Pensions was an agency of the federal government of the United States which existed from 1832 to 1930. It originally administered pensions solely for military personnel. Pension duties were transferred to the United States Department of the Interior in 1849. The death of many pensioners in the early 1900s greatly reduced the agency's workload. The agency closed in 1930 when its duties were transferred to the Veterans Administration.
Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare is a department in the Ministry of Defence, India. It was set up in 2004. The head of Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare since its inception has been a bureaucrat from the IAS. Veteran have for long demanded that DEWS be headed by a serving officers or a retired officer, like in other countries, including the United States, in which the Department of Veterans, is invariably headed by veteran with active duty military experience, with a cabinet rank. For instance the current head of the department is graduate of West Point, and has served in the army.
The Department of Social Services was an Australian government department that existed between April 1939 and December 1972.
One Rank One Pension (OROP), or "same pension, for same rank, for same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement", is a longstanding demand of the Indian armed forces and veterans. The demand for pay-pension equity, which underlies the OROP concept, was provoked by the exparte decision by the Indira Gandhi-led Indian National Congress (INC) government, in 1973, two years after the historic victory in the 1971 Bangladesh war.
Indian Ex Servicemen Movement (IESM) is a "All India Federation of Ex Servicemen's organizations" and individual veterans of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force. IESM was established in August 2008, in the wake of the UPA Government decision to implement Sixth Central Pay Commission, which depressed military pays and pensions, and ranks, relative to civilian Government employees, especially in the Ministry of Defence and Police led security services. It has been at forefront in identifying, and advocating veteran causes, principally issues affecting veteran honor and izzat, and the implementation of One Rank One pension for the armed Forces of India. Its founder member is Lt Colonel Inderjit Singh, former Commanding Officer 14 Grenadiers, who retired from the army in 1978.
Defence pensions are pensions paid from the Defence Services Estimates. Approximately 36 percent of amount budgeted for defence pensions is on account of defence civilians. The Defence pension bill for 2015–2016 was ₹ 54,500 crores, including pension outlay for about 400,000 defence civilians, and about Rs1000 Crores on account of allowances and establishment of Ministry of Finance personnel attached to MOD. On an average a defence civilian pensioners cost five times lesser than military pensioner. The per capita expenditure on defence civilians is approximately Rs. 5.38 Lakhs annually, in comparison with ₹ 1.38 Lakhs a year for defence pensioners paid from the defence services estimates. The per capita bill on account of defence civilian pensioners is higher mainly because they serve longer, reach the highest grades in the pay scales, are eligible for One Rank, One Pension (OROP) pensions, and are and host of allowance].
The 7th Central Pay Commission (7CPC), constituted in February 2014 the principles and structure of emoluments of all central government civilian employees including defence forces in India, submitted its report on 19 November 2015. 7CPC's recommendations affects the organization, rank structure, pay, allowances and pension, of 13,86,171 armed forces personnel. This helps A salary monitoring system is designed to determine and suggest needed changes to the salaries of government employees.page 105, para 6.2.2[3]
In Ireland, there are two categories of social security, contributory, and non-contributory, as well as three main types of payments:
The minister of state for veterans' affairs is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office in the British government, currently held by Johnny Mercer who took the office on 25 October 2022. Earlier, it was jointly with the Ministry of Defence. The officeholder has attended cabinet since 7 July 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
