Veterans’ charity is first to create opportunity on this scale, as it starts building a £15 million factory with hundreds of jobs and training places.
After his Falklands injuries, Simon Weston weighed eight stone and had undergone 10 operations in 12 months. A resettlement officer saw him as, in Simon’s words, “basically unemployable”. Today, 44 years on, he joined Royal British Veterans Enterprise (RBVE) as it began building a factory that will give hundreds more veterans and disabled people the chance to work.
Simon Weston reflected on leaving the military:
“I didn’t know what future I had. I didn’t think I would be able to find work.” He went on to explain: “I needed purpose and relevance to feel important in my world as well as other people’s, and if you don’t have that, you struggle.”
Of the project, he said:
“It’s all about hope. Veterans want opportunity, and a place to belong, and this factory is that.”
The £15 million factory in Kent is a major disability employment project and a bet on the future of British manufacturing. It will create hundreds of jobs, placements and learning experiences, with a Training Academy offering accredited qualifications and routes into work with local businesses.
British manufacturing is at the heart of it. For more than 60 years, RBVE has made the signs that keep Britain moving. Its three factories, in Kent, Surrey and Glasgow, make more than 250,000 road, rail and commercial signs a year, and the charity estimates it is behind one in five road signs in the UK, including trackside signs for Network Rail and road signs for National Highways. More than 70% of its team are veterans, disabled, or both, in an industry where disabled people are under-represented: 6.9% of disabled workers are in manufacturing, compared with 8.3% of non-disabled workers (DWP).
The factory arrives as the country looks for answers on work and health. About 2.8 million people aged 16 to 64 are out of work mainly because of long-term sickness (DWP, April to June 2025). Only 52.8% of disabled people are in work, against 82.5% of non-disabled people, a gap of 29.7 percentage points. Almost a third of the 1.85 million people in England and Wales who have served in the Armed Forces are disabled (2021 Census).
RBVE knows what a job can do. Steve Hammond, a Falklands veteran and RBVE ambassador, was injured serving alongside Simon. He said: “I never thought I would work again. Then Royal British Veterans Enterprise gave me a home and a job, and I worked in the factory for 27 years. The new factory will give hundreds of veterans the same opportunities.”
Lisa Farmer, Chief Executive of RBVE, said:
“Work is the most powerful thing we can give someone, because it unlocks everything else: independence, a home and a future. Too many veterans and disabled people are screened out before anyone sees what they can do. They are overlooked, not unable. This factory will change that, placing veterans at the forefront of British manufacturing. It is only possible because of everyone who has generously donated.”
The factory includes a Training Academy, building on its free national employability programme. 80% of participants find paid work, training or volunteering within 12 months, many after applying for hundreds of jobs without success.
RBVE’s village in Kent is home to more than 300 veterans and their families. In a homelessness reduction pilot, 72% of residents who were homeless moved into a home of their own, because they found work first. RBVE is now investing £28 million in 100 more homes.
RBVE puts the money it raises into creating jobs, providing homes, and building communities. Its thanks go to everyone who has given, bought from its factories or taken part in The Great Tommy Sleep Out. More than 17,000 people took part last year.
