Scottish Government urged to speed up help for those who served
The Scottish Veterans Commissioner (SVC) has challenged the newly formed Scottish Government to make faster progress towards making Scotland a better place to live for those who have served their country.
The SVC today publishes her annual assessment of the Scottish Government’s progress in improving support and services for Scotland’s veterans and their families. The report evaluates progress against a number of recommendations made by the SVC office, which the Scottish Government has committed to implementing.
However, Scottish Veterans Commissioner Susie Hamilton has expressed her disappointment at the limited progression in key activities designed to make meaningful improvements to the lives of our veteran community.
With a new parliamentary term now under way and a new government programme of work announced earlier this month, the SVC says it is essential that the commitment to helping support those who have served our country and their families is maintained.
Following on from an encouraging report last year, this year’s evaluation highlights a slowdown in the progress being made towards implementing recommendations.
It represents the first review of progress towards recommendations laid out in the Veterans and the Law (2024) and Veterans and Finance (2025) reports and, as these are both policy themes chosen by the Scottish Government in its own strategy for veterans, the SVC says she is disappointed to note the low level of general activity in these areas.
And, while some significant milestones will be reached this year in the implementation of the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Pathway, the Commissioner remains concerned by the length of time it has taken to reach this stage.
The Commissioner said:
“While there has been some headway made, it is a muted picture overall and that is disappointing.”
Areas the progress report explores includes work around housing and preventing homelessness.
The Commissioner said:
“I welcome that the new Local Housing Strategy guidance issued in March 2026 contains an expectation that local authorities will give consideration to the needs of the armed forces and veteran community, including spouses, partners, children and the bereaved, when developing their statutory local housing strategies.
“However, there has been minimal progress on implementing the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Pathway. The establishment of a working group would bring rigour and focus to this work – which is long overdue.”
The report also calls for further action to be taken on veteran employment.
The Commissioner added:
“I noted my concern last year that there lacked strategic leadership and direction on veteran employment.
“This is an area where there has been limited progress and I hope that the findings in my recent report on ‘Veterans and Employment’ will support further action – as I believe harnessing the experience, skills and qualifications of the ex-Service community, including partners and spouses, presents a real opportunity.”
The low number of GP practices registering with a scheme designed to recognise the specific needs of veterans is also highlighted by the progress report, with the Commissioner commenting:
“I continue to hear from the veteran community that their Service and specific needs are not well understood when they require primary healthcare.
“The GP Recognition Scheme was launched in 2023 to address this. However, sign up remains inadequate at around five per cent of GP practices registering with the scheme.
“More attention and resource has been directed towards the roll-out – this needs to lead to a considerable increase in registration over the coming year.”
The report acknowledges that much of the progress that has been made over the last 12 months has been due to partnership between the statutory and voluntary sector, including the organisations funded by the Scottish Veterans Fund, whose work directly supports some recommendations.
The Commissioner encourages government and statutory services to continue to harness and deepen co-operation with the effective delivery partners in Scotland’s robust and collaborative ex-Service charity sector.
The progress report also welcomes some of the recently introduced gambling levy being allocated to support Serving personnel and veterans, with an increased risk of gambling harm having been identified within that community.
The Commissioner hopes the new government will now use the coming year to provide a renewed focus on areas identified for improvement, adding:
“This progress report comes at an early stage of this government but what it shows is that more progress at a faster pace is going to be required to make Scotland the destination of choice for Service leavers, veterans and their families.
“The forthcoming extension of Armed Forces Covenant legislation to new policy areas also reinforces the need for continued effort towards providing fair treatment for those who have served our country so well, and to the families whose support is the backbone of that Service.
“I will continue to monitor progress closely and work with the Scottish Government and its partners to ensure commitments are delivered in a way that drives real, lasting change.”
The full 2026 progress report is available here: Scottish Veterans Commissioner | Annual Progress Report 2026
