Veterans

This government is fully committed to renewing the nation’s contract with those who serve and who have served. In November 2025, the Government published a new cross-government Veterans Strategy working with devolved governments and across society to set a new narrative around the remarkable men and women who have served in our Armed Forces.

During Armed Forces week (June 2025), the Prime Minister announced that military personnel, veterans, their families and the bereaved are to have their unique circumstances legally protected by central and devolved governments for the first time under plans to extend the Covenant Legal Duty to more policy areas and across the UK, through the Armed Forces Bill 2026. The Bill is now progressing through the House of Lords and must achieve Royal Assent by December 2026.

The Covenant Duty will extend to UK Government departments and the Devolved Governments as well as local public bodies currently within scope. They will all be required to have due regard to the Covenant principles in their decision and policy making. The Duty will be extended from three policy areas to encompass childcare, education and training, employment, health and social care, housing, social security benefits, personal taxation, criminal justice, transport, pensions, immigration and citizenship, and armed forces compensation.