Libor funds awarded to support Gurkha veterans

09 July 2019

6 January 2017

For 131 years, SSAFA has provided vital welfare support to the Armed Forces family in local communities. Our nationwide network of trained casework volunteers is the biggest in the UK, consisting of 4,000 volunteers in SSAFA branches in every local county.

According to the Gurkha Welfare Trust, there are an estimated 12,794 retired Gurkha’s settled in the UK with their families. Our experience shows that Gurkha veterans have complicated needs, including many who are elderly and infirm with low literacy levels.

Embedded within our volunteer casework service, this project will employ a dedicated project manager to coordinate support for Gurkha veterans more effectively. It will use innovative methods to reach the Gurkha community, train casework volunteers and share best practice.

Improved support will relieve unnecessary hardship, poverty and suffering, reduce isolation, increase well-being amongst Gurkha veterans and families in the UK.

The project will run for a three year period from 2017.

This support from the Libor Fund was gratefully received by SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity and will allow us to provide personal support and social work service support to a unique population of Gurkha soldiers and their families, whose first language is Nepali.

- Tegan Jones, Director of Fundraising, SSAFA, the Armed Forces Charity

The charity helps some 60,000 members of the Armed Forces community each year and would not be able to be there for our beneficiaries without support from awards such as the Libor Funds.

About Libor Funds

£553,946 in Libor funds awarded to SSAFA to support Gurkha veterans

The Government has committed £102 million from banking fines over the next 4 years to support Armed Forces and Emergency Services charities and other related good causes.