The Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committee

Description

Our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant

As part of The Veterans Transition Review undertaken by Lord Ashcroft in 2014, under the heading of ‘The Armed Forces Covenant & Veterans’ Advocacy’, one of the (accepted) recommendations was to ‘mobilise the VAPCs to help local authorities and practitioners pursue best practice and ensure more consistent performance in delivering the Community Covenant.’  

The VAPC's principal activities include: 

  • Acting as advocates for Veterans in support of the Armed Forces Covenant. Improve and monitor cross Government support, including local support services building upon those outlined in the Armed Forces Community Covenant and the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant.  
  • Engaging and developing relationships with regional partners e.g. (but not limited to) County/Borough Council, Health Authorities, ex-service organisations and industry to promote and enhance the services that they provide to veterans. 
  • Strengthening and improving regional work in areas such as veterans’ health, housing, employment between the public and voluntary sector by, for example: continuing engagement with Local Authority County Covenant Boards and Membership of LA Armed Forces Forums. Thereby ensuring prompt support without bureaucracy to those most in need and playing a central role in promoting the interests and welfare of veterans and their families. 

About us

The Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committee (VAPC) is a Non-Departmental Public Body whose Chairmen and Members are appointed by the Minister for Defence People and Veterans.  The positions are voluntary, unpaid roles but travel, subsistence and loss of earnings may be payable. 

The roles of the VAPC include raising awareness of the War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Schemes, the Veterans UK Welfare Service and the availability of cross government support to Veterans and their families assisting veterans in accessing local services as envisaged under the Armed Forces Covenant. The VAPC also provide support to Veterans UK by assisting individuals with any problems or complaints they have regarding the war pensions or AFCS claims process and much more besides.

Disability Confident Scheme (DSC):  

Defence Business Services Veterans UK is a MOD organisation. We act as the Sponsor Department for the VAPC. MOD actively encourages applications from disabled people. As part of this, MOD, along with several departments, have committed to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS). One of our commitments is to offer an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role. This gives them the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at the interview stage.