Are you eligible for support?

Quick links:

• Beneficiaries
• Dependants
• Carers
• Reserve or Auxiliary services
• Voluntary aid societies
• Gurkhas
• Commonwealth citizens

Those who are eligible

Those eligible for support services can be summarised as people who are serving or who have served in the Armed Forces, their dependants and carers.

These groups of people fall into the following categories:

• beneficiaries;
• dependants, which include children, spouses and partners and other dependants; and
• carers.

Beneficiaries

'Beneficiaries' are people who satisfy any of the following:

• Any man or woman who is currently serving as a Regular, Reserve or Auxiliary member of the Royal Navy, Army or Royal Air Force and who is aged 16 years or over and has received seven days' pay. 
• Any man or woman who has previously received seven days' pay as a Regular, Reserve or Auxiliary member of the Royal Navy, Army or Royal Air Force, and is aged 16 years or over.
• Any man or woman who has served with the Mercantile Marine afloat in hostile waters or as a full-time member of Allied Civil Police Forces or who is entitled to the campaign medal issued to the Royal Navy, Army or Royal Air Force to those giving them direct support or under their command.
• Any member of voluntary aid societies; who has served full time and in uniform in direct support of the United Kingdom Armed Forces. 
• Any British subject (whether by birth or otherwise) who has served at least seven days in the Forces of an Allied nation and received seven days' pay from that nation or a resistance organisation of an Allied nation during hostilities in which the United Kingdom Armed Forces were engaged. 
• Any man who served in the Home Guard for at least six months, or in a Bomb and Mine Disposal Unit for at least three months, or was awarded the Defence Medal in respect of service in the Home Guard or in a Bomb and Mine Disposal Unit.

Dependants

'Dependants' can include children, spouses and partners (this category includes widows or widowers) or other dependants.

Children

Any child of a beneficiary or spouse who:

• is under compulsory school age;
• is under the age of 25 and in full-time education; or
• requires ongoing care for a physical or mental impairment.

Spouses and partners

A 'spouse' or 'partner' is anyone who:

• is married to a beneficiary;
• has entered into a civil partnership with a beneficiary;
• is currently cohabiting with a beneficiary and has been for more than 12 months;
• has previously been married to a beneficiary and has not entered into a new marriage, civil partnership or cohabiting relationship;
• has previously been in a civil partnership with a beneficiary and has not entered into a new marriage, civil partnership or cohabiting relationship;
• has previously been in a cohabiting relationship with a beneficiary for more than 12 months, which ended not more than 12 months earlier, and has not entered into a new marriage, civil partnership or cohabiting relationship;
• was married to a beneficiary who died, and has not entered into or is no longer in, a new marriage, civil partnership or cohabiting relationship;
• was in a civil partnership with a beneficiary who died, and has not entered into or is no longer in, a new marriage, civil partnership or cohabiting relationship; or
• was in a cohabiting relationship with a beneficiary for 24 months or more when the beneficiary died, and has not entered into a new marriage, civil partnership or cohabiting relationship.

Other dependants

'Other dependants' are people who are:

• financially dependent on a beneficiary; and
• cohabiting with a beneficiary; and
• related to a beneficiary by way of birth, marriage or civil partnership.

Or someone who is entirely dependent on a beneficiary due to a physical or mental impairment.

Carers

Carers were included into the eligibility criteria for support services in 2008. This was to recognise the service that they provide to those who have served in the Armed Forces, and to provide them with the assistance they need to carry on this role.

'Carers' are those who have an ongoing caring responsibility for a beneficiary.