The Government has announced a £44 million digital transformation package as part of the effort to support veterans of the armed forces.
It involves the development of a new portal for access to compensation and pension services and work on a digital verification service to prove veteran status.
The measures are part of a Veteran’s Strategy Action Plan 2022-24, announced to Parliament by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office Steve Barclay MP.
He said the plan, which covers a range of measures to support veterans after they leave the armed forces, includes making better use of digital and data than in the past. It includes the portal to enable veterans to apply and track the progress of claims online, with features including a digital correspondence and case management system.
It is expected to help 1.2 million pensions members and 30,000 compensation claimants per year access the services more easily.
The plan also highlights a need to make it easier for veterans to verify their status in accessing government services, and says there will be a scoping study for a service to provide digital verification.
While it does not make a full commitment to implementation, it says the service would provide a step change in digital provision and could reduce waiting times, the likelihood of fraud and give veterans easier access to a wide range of government services.
It would also make it possible to begin developing delivery options for phase two of the roll out of veterans’ identity cards, which covers the provision of further services. The Ministry of Defence has previously said that phase one, under which all service leavers have been issued with a card, is now complete.
Website improvement
There are also plans for improvements in the Veterans Gateway website over the coming year to give users a single point of contact in identifying sources of support for services such as housing, the development of new data analysis products, and efforts to ensure data on homelessness among veterans is collected consistently.
The document adds there has already been a £475,000 investment in developing a digital and data strategy for the sector.
Announcing the overall plan, Barclay said: “The plan will deliver for veterans across three key areas. We will better understand our veteran community, making sure we have the information we need to inform policy and service design.
“We will transform services and support for veterans, building on progress already made to ensure we are meeting veterans’ needs. We will celebrate our veterans and their contribution to society, so that all veterans feel their service is valued by the nation.”
Image from iStock, chippics
