Page 85 - MERCIAN Eagle 2018

The Mercian Regimental
Benevolence Charity
Update
The Mercian Regimental Benevolence Charity have continued to have a busy year with a steady flow of requests for assistance coming from the Royal British Legion, SSAFA and our Unit Welfare Officers. We respond as quickly as possible to any requests for assistance, with an 89% response time to cases within one working day.
Benevolence Cases and
Expenditure 2017/18
The Benevolence budget was set at £99,650 for FY 18-19 and was expected
to be the second year where income would not match expenditure with a predicted deficiency of £32k.
The actual income to
the charity was £81.8k
with an expenditure of
£81.4k; this gave the
fund a minor surplus of
£55 at the end of the
FY, which was due to
better than expected
external donations
(£15.4k). The charity
received 274 requests for assistance, an increase of 34 cases from the previous financial year. Requests for help from our antecedent regimental veterans remain
high as we received a total 116 requests, resulting in the charity providing £38.9k
of assistance. This was topped up with £56.3k from the Army Benevolence Fund, providing over £95.2k in assistance. 35 of those requests were for help with mobility costs both around the house (stairs, shower and bath adaptations) and getting out
into society (ramp and electric powered vehicles). 68 grants were made to Mercian veterans and serving soldiers giving out £17.5k, with a further £20.8k in donations from the ABF; giving a grand total of £37.5k distributed for support. We have distributed over £56.5k in grants, which is £2k down on last year’s comparison. The Army Benevolent Fund has provided over £77k in grants to support our welfare cases, giving us a total of £133k distributed in the last financial year. Our direct link to Unit Welfare Officers of 1, 2 and 4 MERCIAN has proven to be effective, actioning 10 cases direct from Battalions and over £4.5k in funds directly to soldiers who are still serving. We received 9 requests for assistance from Reserve veterans.
Veterans/Family Support
Mental health issues for serving personnel has been highlighted both by charities and
news media, with a new Veterans Mental Helpline run by Combat Stress opening,
but time to get face to face referrals remains long and help via the NHS can be patchy. We continue to publish the help
line numbers on both the Mercian and antecedent e-newsletters and ask you all to support anyone you believe might be having mental health issues. The Benevolence Charity is linked in with the Charity Launchpad, which aims to get veterans into safe accommodation who have been living on the streets. Four of our veterans have used this charity, which provides shelter, as well as counselling for alcohol, drugs and
We have also continued
to support our bereaved families, inviting them to key regimental events...
mental health to get them into work and full- time accommodation. We have also continued to support our bereaved families, inviting them to key regimental events, and the Regimental Pilgrimage to Crich. RHQ has conducted more referrals to other
specialist agencies for support (BLESMA, Veterans UK, Combat Stress and Veterans Aid) than in the last five years.
Trends
In January the MoD published a forecast showing that the UK veteran population
will be decreasing from 2.5m in 2016 to 1.6m by 2028. However, already across the charity sector it has been noted that cases are becoming much more complex requiring multiple donations and referrals
to other key external agencies. Costs for goods and services continue to rise, with Councils and the NHS struggling to provide the minimum standard of support, therefore demand on service charities is expected
to remain high with more than one request for help coming from clients. This has been reflected in the past year across all of the main service charities (ABF, SSAFA and Combat Stress). It is noted that three of our veterans required help having suffered leg amputations this year, due to the rise in type 2 diabetes within the population.
Royal Hospital Chelsea
It is my sad duty to inform you that
two of our Chelsea Pensioners died in
late November last year, WO1 Charles Shrimpton (Worcestershire Regiment) and WO1 Leslie Walker (Staffordshire Regiment). Sgt Jim Fellows (who is 90 years old in
Aug this year) has been joined by a new
Chelsea Pensioner WO2 John Byrne QVRM (WFR)
Pensioner WO2 John Byrne QVRM (WFR), who is very active in the Royal Hospital.
Fundraising
The Worshipful Company of Bowyers and the Mercian Golf event organised by Lt Col (Retd) Keith Seddon MBE remain our steadfast fund raisers, and donations from our Regimental Associations and D Coy
4 MERCIAN help top up the Benevolence Charity. Our sincere thanks go out to all
of our Regimental family members who dedicate their time, resources, hard work and effort in fund raising for our charity. Your efforts enable the charity to keep up with the demands for help from our veterans and serving soldiers.
Look Forward
Demands upon The Mercian Regiment Benevolence Fund will remain high due
to our ageing veteran population, more complex cases and the pressures on
social care in our communities. The Mercian Regimental Benevolent Charity remains committed to supporting all of our Regimental family members who need help.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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