What's new this week?

Did you know that we are only 108 days away from Armed Forces Day 2012?   If you want to know what's being planned or if there's going to be an event in your local area, then visit the official website.

More Community Covenants have been signed in South Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.

We are busy working on our next podcast, hopefully to go live later in the month.  It's an interview with Alison Davies, Officer in Charge of the Veterans Welfare Service.    The interview follows the launch of our latest video on the Service, which you can view below . . .





There's details of a Wreath Laying Ceremony at Runnymede Memorial on our what's new page.  There's also an appeal by 360 Productions, who want to interview Second World War veterans from 100 Bomber Group.  Ladies can also be fabulous while raising money for the Erskine charity, at a lunch planned in May with celebrity host Jenny Eclair.

As we are moving closer to Spring (and hopefully warmer months), you might be starting to plan events that would be of interest to the Armed Forces Community.  Please don't forget to add details on our online events calendar.

Get ready for the 2012 Veterans' Survey

Next week, SPVA will be launching the Veterans' Customer Satisfaction Survey that can be completed online.

In our first podcast of 2012, SPVA presenter Joanne Lowe interviews Jon Parkin, Head of SPVA Veterans Services, about the survey.

If you want to know how you can get involved, then take a listen.  The podcast can be downloaded straight from our website or via iTunes.

Veterans Welfare Centres roll out completed

The Welfare Service provides one-to-one support

Our latest  podcast looks at support we provide for veterans at a local level.

The latest podcast provides an update on the five Veterans Welfare Centres launched by SPVA in 2010.

The Veterans Welfare Service provides one-to-one advice and support to veterans across the UK and Ireland.

Alan Mayers, Officer in Charge of the Welfare Service, is interviewed in the latest podcast and provides an overview of how the centres can and do support veterans in the local community.

Alan said:

“The Veterans Welfare Service is here to provide help to all veterans and their families or dependants. From our service you can expect dedicated one-to-one help and advice. Please take a listen to the podcast and find out more about how our Welfare Service is supporting veterans.”

SPVA is committed to providing awareness of initiatives and organisations supporting the Armed Forces Community. Since early 2010, we have released a number of podcasts; this latest release continues our aim of providing information and updates of initiatives and services available for this important community.

The podcast and all our other SPVA social media products are available to access on our Social Media Hub via the Veterans-UK website, and on various social media sites such as iTunes and YouTube (links can be found via our Social Media Hub).

Latest SPVA podcast launched

The search continues for relatives of those who died at Fromelles

The Agency’s latest podcast explores the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and the continuing search for relatives of those who died at Fromelles during the First World War.

Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery is the newest cemetery constructed by the CWGC and is the final resting place for 250 soldiers who died at the Battle of Fromelles in 1916. These soldiers were recently discovered in a series of communal graves in northern France. The search still continues to find relatives of those soldiers.

The Commission is a not-for-profit organisation established in 1917 and is responsible for marking and maintaining the graves of those members of the Commonwealth Forces who died during the two World Wars.

Ranald Leask, CWGC said, “The podcast is a great way to find out about the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and our recent work at Fromelles. It will provide much-needed awareness of our continuing search to find relatives of those soldiers killed at Fromelles.”

The podcast and other SPVA Social Media products are available to view via the SPVA Social Media Hub.


Pictures copyright Jon Garrett CWGC

Coming soon

Location filming for the next SPVA video

We're busy working on new social media products that we be releasing over the next few months leading up to Christmas, so just wanted to keep you posted on things to come.

There are podcasts planned on the new issue of Veterans WORLD (due out in the next couple of weeks), the continuing search for relatives of those killed at Fromelles and an interview with Jenny Green to discuss the Cruse Project which is supporting bereaved military families.

We've also got a new video in production, explaining the work of the Historical Casualty Casework Team which we will be posting on our YouTube channel and placing on our website in the next couple of months.

Keep an eye on our Social Media Hub for our new releases. Don't forget you can also follow us on Twitter and keep updated on news from SPVA.

Changes to the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme

SPVA has created a communications toolkit to help explain the changes to the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

The period in which anyone who has been injured in service can claim compensation will rise this month from five to seven years from point of diagnosis as part of a series of changes to the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

The change came into effect on August 3, and is one of several to be introduced following the recommendations from the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme Review, carried out by former Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral the Lord Boyce last year.

The Review, which was assisted by an independent scrutiny group that included Service charities, medical experts, serving personnel and veterans, announced its recommendations for improvements in February this year.

The majority of these improvements require legislative amendment to the Scheme and will be implemented by February 2011, but some changes can be made more quickly and have taken effect from August 3.

These improvements include;

An increase in the maximum level of Bereavement Grant from £20,000 to £25,000 to reflect the increase in Armed Forces pay since 2005.
An increase in the maximum level of Bereavement Grant for Reservists who are not members of a reserve forces pension scheme to £37,500, to help bring their benefits in line with their Regular forces colleagues.
An uplift of the majority of awards for hearing loss by one Tariff level.

The full press announcement can be found on the MOD website.

To support and provide information on the changes, the AFCS toolkit has been created to allow you to view, listen to or download information via a bespoke webpage on the Veterans-UK website. The products have been designed to provide information for you or help you when providing advice about the scheme from a podcast to a poster for display in your office.

SPVA embraces Social Media

Don Goldie and Clare Ellis, the SPVA podcast presenters

Podcasting is a really good way to get information to the Armed Forces Community (Service personnel, Veterans and their families) and the general public. Here in SPVA, we launched our regular programme of podcasts in February this year.

We've already released podcasts on the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme Review and The Ilford Park Polish Home. The podcasts are available from our Social Media Hub. If you prefer, they can be downloaded from iTunes. The link can be found on the Hub.

We are also on Twitter, so you can also follow our tweets.

SPVA puts veterans in the frame

2010 will see SPVA developing Social Media products, embracing the latest ways to communicate our information to the Digital Generation.

Our products are raising awareness of the services our Agency provides to the Armed Forces Community. Over the past few months, we've launched our first podcasts followed by the recent introduction of our first videocast. All are accessible via our Social Media Hub which includes links to our products on YouTube and iTunes.

For further information about our first video cast, check out our latest press release here