HIVE Directory: Support For Veterans

Providing free information and advice for Forces veterans and active service personnel in Portsmouth.

The Veterans Information Point is supported by the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity and Greenwich Hospital, and has been set up to offer free, independent and confidential information, advice and support to military veterans and active servicemen and women in Portsmouth and South East Hampshire.

The Veterans Information Point is open Monday to Friday, from 9am to 4:45pm (4.30pm on Fridays) at the Bradbury Centre. We can offer telephone advice or face-to-face office appointments and even home visits if necessary.

Issues we can help you with
• Benefits and entitlements including War and Armed Forces Pensions
• Leisure and social activities including access to regimental associations
• Applying for a service medal or Veterans Badge
• Mental health support including PTSD
• Housing options
• Money matters
• Energy efficiency for your home
• Staying independent at home
• Family and personal matters
• Coping with bereavement
• Wills and funeral planning
• Legal issues
• Signposting to other agencies for additional services and support

Welfare benefits
Benefits checks are one of our most common requests, and last year we were able to help claim over £1.3 million in benefits for people living in the Portsmouth area. It is estimated that every year over £3.5 billion of benefits go unclaimed across the country, with three million older people living below the poverty line.

Many people are put off claiming either by the complexity of the benefits system, or they assume they cannot claim anything because they have some savings or own their home.

Our Veterans Information Adviser and team of trained volunteers can check to see if you are entitled to claim any welfare or disability benefits, and can help you through the claims process from start to finish. If needed we can give you assistance filling in all of the forms.

Blesma, The Limbless Veterans, is dedicated to assisting serving and ex servicemen and women who have lost limbs or the use of a limb(s), or lost an eye or sight, during or after service. We support these men and women in their communities throughout the UK.

Blind Veterans UK helps vision-impaired ex-Servicemen and women to rebuild their lives after sight loss.

We provide rehabilitation, training, practical advice and emotional support to veterans regardless of how or when they lost their sight. We’re here to help blind veterans regain their independence and live the life they choose.

Does your garden need a spruce up? Or do you have shelf that needs putting up?

Building Heroes Property Services operating throughout the UK including Portsmouth. The Charity Building Heroes, aim is to tackle unemployment among veterans. Through its training programs they now have a number of trained veterans who hope to put these skills to further good use, and have set up the property maintenance firm as a way to provide further employment, and raise money to put back into their centres. Typical things they will be able to do are plumbing , carpentry , decorating and much more.

For more information go to buildingheroes.org.uk or call 0330 390 0940
Building Hero's are also looking for veterans to help with this service please email propertyservices@buildingheroes.org.uk

We offer a free, impartial and confidential service offering Housing, Employment, Benefits, Debt, Family, Immigration and relocation advice to support serving members of the Armed Forces, their families and to Veterans (across the UK).

We can help over the phone or in person.

We have a range of general advice on our website and we provide specialist help through our team of Armed Forces Advisers in South Hampshire. We attend the Veterans Outreach Service (VOS) held at The Royal Maritime Club, on the first Wednesday of the month.

Company of Makers exists to support ex-Service personnel and their partners with transitioning from military to civilian life, no matter how long it’s been since they left the Armed Forces.

Support for people transitioning out of the Armed Forces and into mainstream society covers aspects of employment and some briefings on finances and housing. Reports such as the Transition Mapping Study, Veterans Transition Review and Lifting the Lid on Transition support the need for a holistic model of support, yet nothing is changing quickly.

Our combined experience and the available evidence shows that an effective, holistic model of support must include consideration for the cultural and values-based obstacles to healthy transition that are unique to people leaving service, and must therefore be developed with the maximum possible input from the people who it is designed to support.

Fighting With Pride (FWP) is a registered charity founded in January 2020. We are a lived-experience LGBT+ military charity, leading a campaign to support the health and wellbeing of LGBT+ Veterans, serving personnel and their families. We are here to raise awareness and recognition of the need to support those most impacted by the ban on LGBT+ military service, before it was finally lifted in January 2000. We aim to acknowledge and celebrate these remarkable veterans. FWP is working with UK Government and the
devolved parliaments to provide better support to LGBT+ Veterans in the future.

Our Mission: To be a beacon for LGBT+ Veterans, supporting them to live their best lives.

Our Vision: That the United Kingdom will become the best place in the world in which to be an LGBT+ Veteran.

FirstLight Trust supports veterans of the armed forces, emergency services and their families

We are currently working with Goals in Portsmouth to provide a monthly Coffee and Chat session.

It is a space for veterans to attend have a brew and banter while socialising, along with the chance to start up a veteran’s football group.

Support will be available for any veterans needing help with isolation, loneliness, new hobbies/skills, or confidence building.

A Support Coordinator will also be available to assist veterans with housing, benefit claims and debt.

The Forces Employment Charity provides life-long, life-changing support, jobs and training opportunities to Service leavers, veterans, reservists and their spouses, partners and children, regardless of circumstances, rank, length of service, or reason for leaving.

If you’re looking for support with your CV, returning to work after a break or need advice on transferring skills and qualifications from the military, we can help!

We support spouses and partners, including divorced, separated and bereaved on their journey into employment. We understand Service life and transition can impact the whole family, so we also offer mentoring and career guidance to military children and young people aged 16-24.

Access a programme of employment pathway events and support through Op ASCEND - details of which can be found through the events section on the FEC website. Op ASCEND is a free service offered to veterans and all military families (including those whose family members are serving).