2014 household survey of the ex-Service community

Support pack for Royal British Legion staff and members

Background

In 2005, the Legion commissioned extensive research to feed into a strategic review of its welfare service delivery. This research, conducted by Compass Partnership, measured the size, profile and welfare needs of the Legion’s main beneficiary group. The purpose of this work was to map the needs of the community in detail and to identify those in greatest need, so that the Legion, other Service charities and statutory providers could tailor their welfare provision accordingly. To access the research, please visit and scroll down to the section entitled “2005 research report”. Please click here to read the summary and conclusions report.

This research is still hugely influential, and drawn upon by a wide range of organisations, from local authorities and central Government departments to charities and MPs’ offices. Nine years on, we wanted to refresh the findings, in order to update our understanding of the size and needs of the adult ex-Service community. This will inform the Legion’s future strategic planning, welfare, marketing and campaigning work, as well as acting as a resource for anyone interested in the welfare needs of this group. Importantly, it also provides vital information on the key differences between the ex-Service community and the UK population as a whole.

This report is being launched at a symposium event in London on Monday 17th November. The results will be presented, followed by a panel discussion including Professor Sir Simon Wessely, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Co-Director of the King’s Centre for Military Health Research.

We are printing a number of hard copies of the full report, along with shorter versions including just the key findings. In addition, we are producing an A4 infographic to illustrate the key findings. All three will be available on The Royal British Legion’s website from Monday 17th November.

Key findings

The UK’s ex-Service population is elderly and declining in size

  • The UK’s ex-Service community is largely elderly: almost half are over 75 and 64% are over the age of 65. This reflects the large numbers of men and women who served during the Second World War, or who undertook post-War National Service.
  • In total, Compass Partnership estimates that there are between 6.1 million and 6.2 million members of the ex-Service community living in the UK. Of these, around 2.8 million are veterans, 2.1 million are dependent adults (including spouses and widows) and 1 million are dependent children. The remaining 190,000-290,000 represents the estimated size of the ‘hidden’ ex-Service community e.g. those residing in communal establishments such as care homes.
  • This represents a large reduction in the size of the community since their last estimate of 10.5 million in 2005. Actuarial consultants from Punter Southall have estimated that the size of the ex-Service community will reduce further to 5.45m in 2020, 4.7m in 2025 and 3.94m in 2030.
  • Punter Southall additionally estimates that there are 469,773 members of the serving community (Service personnel and their families). In total, we therefore estimate that there are currently between 6.5 and 6.7 million members of the Armed Forces community living in the UK.

Younger members of the ex-Service community differ significantly from the UK general population in three main ways

  • Those of working-age (between 16 and 64) are less likely to be employed than the general population aged 16-64 (60% vs 72%), more likely to be unemployed (8% vs 5%) and more likely to be economically inactive (32% vs 22%).
  • Veterans aged 16-64 are more likely than the general population of the same age to report a long term illness that limits their activities (24% vs 13%). Veterans report living with a number of conditions, including depression, back problems, problems with their arms, legs or feet, difficulty hearing and difficulty seeing, at a higher rate than the general population.
  • One in four working-age members of the ex-Service community report having unpaid caring responsibilities (23%), which is considerably higher than the rate among the general population (12%).

Many of the problems faced by the increasingly elderly ex-Service population are similar to those faced by the UK’s elderly as a whole

  • Around 630,000 members of the ex-Service community of all ages are likely to be experiencing problems getting around outside the home. Large numbers (around 720,000) experience problems with self-care, including exhaustion and pain, bladder control and difficulty looking after themselves. All of these problems peak for those aged 75 or over.
  • Depression affects around 480,000 members of the ex-Service community, around 370,000 report feeling lonely, and around 350,000 are recently bereaved.
  • Veterans and dependants aged 65 or over are less likely to report ill health than the UK population of the same age, suggesting that they enjoy slightly better health than the average UK pensioner.
  • While the ex-Service community as a whole reports a household income of £21,000 after tax, those aged 65 or over report an average post tax income of £15,900. This represents an above inflation increase from 2005, but is below the national average for this age group.

16-34 year olds, particularly veterans and those who live alone, report a number of issues around debt, employment, transition and a significant proportion have caring responsibilities.

  • The younger age group make up only 6% of the ex-Service community, but their problems differ subtly from other members of the Armed Forces community. They are also more likely to have experienced difficulties – such as school expulsion or having parents with drug or alcohol problems – before entering the military.
  • This age group is more likely than UK general population (of the same age) to have a caring responsibility. There are also indications that a substantial proportion is grieving the loss of a friend or relative, with almost one in five reporting that they would find bereavement support useful.
  • Finance and employment also appear to pose problems for this group. One in four is in arrears. One in 20 has taken out a payday loan, which is equivalent to around 20,000 people. Over half of the veterans in this age group say that they make little or no use of their skills and experience in their current job, which is higher than the UK population, and equivalent to around 60,000 people.

Working-age households report a number of distinct difficulties, particularly related to illness and disability, isolation, employment and material deprivation

  • Low employment rates for working-age veterans and dependants may be linked to poor health within the ex-Service community, as working-age households are over twice as likely as the UK population to be receiving sickness or disability benefits, and working-age members of the ex-Service community are more likely than the general population to report having a limiting illness. Of veterans aged 25-44 with a long-term illness, over half attribute it to their Service.
  • The ‘middle-aged’ ex-Service community appears particularly vulnerable to a range of problems. Out of all age groups, along with 85-94 year olds, those aged 35-44 are most likely to report some sort of difficulty. Two in ten are in arrears – over 60,000 people in this age group – and half have cut back on their fuel use to save money (about 160,000 people). Problems with depression peak at 35-64, at 14%, and exhaustion and pain peaks at 45-54 (13%).
  • Some problems appear to peak amongst families (including lone parents). Almost one in five of those with dependent children report employment difficulties and half report material deprivation of some kind. One in four of all dependent spouses has a caring responsibility (excluding caring for their own children), and 45% of those with children said that they would like help from a Legion service, including welfare (43%), practical advice (24%) and employment (16%).

Suggested responses to potential FAQs

How many people were surveyed?

A series of screening questions were asked to identify members of the Armed Forces community. In total, 20,700 UK adults were screened and, of those, 2,203 were eligible to be asked the Legion’s battery of questions. Serving personnel and their dependants were removed for reporting purposes, leaving a final survey sample of 2,121 members of the ex-Service community (veterans and their adult dependants).

Are these findings representative of the ex-Service community across the UK?

A module of questions was placed on a nationally representative omnibus survey of UK adults. All interviews were conducted face-to-face in respondents’ own homes, during January/February 2014. The findings are broadly representative of the UK ex-Service community as a whole. There are, nevertheless, limitations to this sort of research. The national omnibus survey is an in-home survey and relies upon people answering the door and agreeing to be interviewed. Those who are physically unable to open the door, or to be interviewed, or who chose not to, were therefore out of the scope of this survey. Adults living in institutions and communal establishments were also excluded, such as those living in prisons, residential homes or nursing homes, hospital, rehabilitation centres, temporary accommodation such as hostels, or on Armed Forces bases. The homeless sleeping rough were also out of scope.

Why haven’t you included serving personnel and their families?

In order to obtain a representative sample of serving personnel, researchers would have had to go ‘behind the wire’, onto Armed Forces bases, which would have required MOD ethical approval. It would also have incurred significant extra costs for the Legion, as other omnibus clients (whose batteries of questions may have also been asked of our respondents) would be unlikely to be interested in surveying serving personnel and their families.

Will this give me data on my local ex-Service community?

The sample is too small to give us detailed local findings (for example, to tell us how many veterans are likely to be living in a single town or borough). The nature of the sampling methods does, however, give us an indication of the density of the ex-Service community across the country, and in the devolved nations.

Figures in Chapter 1 of the report show the percentage of the adult ex-Service community living in the different regions of England (e.g. the South East, West Midlands, Yorkshire & Humber) and the devolved regions, and the penetration of the ex-Service community within those local populations. For example, we can estimate that 7% of the ex-Service community lives in Wales, but that 12% of the Welsh population are members of the ex-Service community. Only about 3% of Londoners are members of the ex-Service community.

Does this tell us anything we didn’t already know?

We asked respondents a number of questions which also appear on general household surveys such as the Labour Force Survey and ‘Breadline Britain’. As a result, we have been able to make a number of important comparisons between the ex-Service population and the general population, which enable us to confirm or deny many long-held assumptions about veterans and their dependants. For example, contrary to popular public perception about veterans’ mental health, only 17 veteran respondents (2% of the total) report having PTSD, but rates of reported depression among working-age veterans are significantly higher than the general population (10% vs 6%), and almost one in seven 35-64 year old members of the ex-Service community report being depressed.

What are the key differences between the ex-Service community and the general population?

These are outlined above (in ‘key findings’). In summary, the three main differences between working-age ex-Service people (and dependants) and the general population are that members of the ex-Service community are less like to be employed and more likely to have a caring responsibility, and veterans are more likely to report having a long term limiting illness, including back problems, depression and hearing loss.

Older members of the ex-Service community appear to experience similar problems to the general population of that age, although their average household income is lower (but there are more single-person households, so this doesn’t necessarily translate to higher levels of deprivation). This apparent similarity may be because such a high proportion of the older generation undertook National Service so, as a group, they are much larger and less distinct from their peers. In fact, there may be a ‘healthy worker’ effect taking place among this age group – they are less likely to report ill health than the general population of the same age. This may be because those with pre-existing conditions would have been deemed unsuitable for National Service. National Service veterans also served for a shorter period of time, on average, than younger veterans, which will have limited the period during which they could sustain a Service-related injury or condition.

Why has the size of the ex-Service community fallen so much?

The National Service population makes up a significant proportion of the older UK general population. This survey found that around 36% of the UK population aged 85+ has served in the UK Armed Forces, or is an adult dependant of someone who served. Over half (53%) of all 75-84 year olds fit into this age group. By contrast, only 8% of 55-64 year olds are members of the ex-Service community.

Inevitably, as the ex-Service community ages, the proportion of it made up of the National Service population also reduces as more of them die, and so the community as a whole reduces in size. Unsurprisingly, this trend is set to continue: by 2030, Punter Southall estimates that only 10% of 75-84 year olds will be members of the ex-Service community, and that the size of the community as a whole will have reduced further, from 6.1 - 6.2m in 2014 to 3.9m in 2030.

The Legion’s marketing materials are often focused on the younger generation of ex-Service personnel and families, but this research shows that most of your potential beneficiaries are pensioners. Should you shift your focus to reflect their age profile?

Our marketing materials are actually quite varied and do publicise the many services we provide for (typically) older members of the ex-Service community, including care homes, dementia care and Poppy Calls. As an organisation, the Legion already has strong associations with the two World Wars and the National Service generation, so our communication efforts are sometimes focused on promoting our (perhaps less well known) work with younger beneficiaries.

In addition, this research has shown that there are specific groups within the ex-Service community with needs above and beyond the general population of the same age – particularly amongst the working age community – and these largely reflect the focus of the Legion’s support, and the clients who we engage with.

We also provide some services (and invest in others) which focus specifically on those with the most serious needs caused by Service in the Armed Forces, such as the Battle Back Centre, the MOD-run Personnel Recovery Centres and the Centre for Blast Injury Studies. As a general household survey, this research did not have the scope to examine the needs of our most vulnerable beneficiaries. Nevertheless, we will be carefully considering all of the report’s findings, and how they might inform the sorts of services that we provide in the future.

What is the Legion doing to meet the needs identified in this report?

The Legion’s services are varied and person-centred, focusing on the individual in the round rather than their list of needs. The themes identified upon in this report do, however, relate to a wide range of Legion services. Beneficiaries who are out of work, for example, can access a range of Legion services, including the Civvy Street website, which provides online courses, job-seeking advice and links to major employers. Those with long-term illnesses can be supported in accessing benefits and other sources of help by our Independent Living Advisors, and those having trouble with payday loans could seek help from our Benefits and Money Advice service. We also direct beneficiaries to other sources of help – such as mental health treatment from Combat Stress and the NHS – and we are opening sixteen high street “Pop-In” centres, from which some of our regional welfare teams are already operating, in visible, town centre locations across the country.

The ex-Service community is forecast to continue to reduce in size in the future. Does that mean that there will be less need for the Legion’s services?

Unfortunately, no. We have projected the number of members of the ex-Service community likely to be experiencing specific needs, and these are high even among the younger age groups, where veterans and dependants make up a much smaller proportion of the general population. For example, about one in four 16-44 year olds reports an employment difficulty, such as fear of unemployment, which amounts to around 140,000 veterans and dependants. If anything, this report poses a challenge for the Legion; namely, how can we reach even more beneficiaries who are eligible and in need of the sort of support that we provide?