This collaborative project is delivered by Defence Relationship Management and Cobseo (The Confederation of Service Charities). The Hub enables forces-friendly organisations across all sectors to showcase the continued value of the UK’s highly-skilled veteran community.
Latest news
East Hampshire Veterans Festival
A Veterans Festival will be held on Friday 24 January at Petersfield Festival Hall to celebrate serving personnel and veterans.
The event will offer a range of information from national organisations, charities and local groups providing support, advice, discussion, networking and friendship.
The National Transition Event (NTE) comes back to Silverstone
The next annual event is on Monday 24 February 2025 at Silverstone Conference Centre and Circuit.
The NTE aims to support service leavers, veterans, reservists, cadets and their families. With the iconic GP circuit as a backdrop for the ‘Troops’ Track Day’, it delivers an engaging experience supported by industry, the third sector, the Ministry of Defence and the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, ensuring a wealth of resources and networking opportunities.
National Transition event logo. Copyright: National Transition
Veterans are defined as anyone who has served for at least one day in His Majesty’s Armed Forces (Regular or Reserve) or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations. There are currently 2.4 million veterans in Great Britain.
There are 2.4 million veterans in Great Britain. 40% of veterans are 16-64 years old. The percentage of working age veterans is set to increase to 44% by 2028. 60% of veterans are over 65. 75% of veterans own their home or have a mortgage. It is estimated that 3% to 6% of those sleeping rough have served in the Armed Forces. 75% are healthy, 17% have fair health and 8% have bad health. Want to learn more? Tune in to our ‘being forces friendly’ podcast’.
An employers' guide to hiring veterans graphic (Office for Veterans' Affairs).
The employers’ guide to hiring veterans (published by the OVA) was launched by the Rt Hon Johnny Mercer, former Minister For Veteran Affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses HQ in London.
The guide provides support to organisations that seek guidance and best practices for the employment, retention, and career development of veterans. Case studies from existing organisations are included, providing tips and lived experiences.
The Reed Group has created an internal Armed Forces Veterans and Reservists Group (AFVR) community.
The AFVR Group’s benefits include:
offering employees a support group of people with similar experiences
recreating a sense of camaraderie that they may be missing from their time in the forces
offering an optional buddy system for mentoring new staff, especially when this is a member’s first civilian job
sharing Armed Forces events, news and experiences
Joanna Chapman, Reed Group business development manager, has said:
This shows our commitment to supporting Armed Forces personnel and ensuring they are not disadvantaged by their Service. We work continuously to create new and improve existing policies and initiatives that support those who have served and those who continue to serve, including guidance documents for our recruiting staff and job application support for those applying to work for Reed.
Their working group will also hold group-wide talks to raise awareness for employing the Armed Forces Community, the benefits they bring to employers, and how they can be supported. Reed opens group talks to external stakeholders to host and bring their expertise, and they welcome anyone who would be interested in attending. If you would like to participate, email the Reed Armed Forces Community at ArmedForces.Community@reed.com.
The Forces Employment Charity
Forces Employment Charity logo.
The Forces Employment Charity stands by ex-Forces personnel through a range of programmes and practical support. Supporting anyone who has served at least one day in His Majesty’s Regular Armed Forces, or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations. Support is delivered by experienced advisors, many of whom also served. The Forces Employment Charity advisors are committed to helping veterans succeed through their working lives.
The Forces Employment Charity programmes provide a range of practical tools and advice to help veterans use their military skills to stand out from the crowd.
More than 12,000 organisations have committed to improving the lives of Service people and their families.
Since 2011, the Armed Forces Covenant has been a promise that, as a society, we will acknowledge that those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces and their families should be treated with fairness and respect.
New figures were released by the Forces Employment Charity on Armed Forces Day 2024, revealing that the number of employers actively looking to hire veterans has risen by over 20% in the last 5 years. This is an increase from 2,981 in 2018, to 3,603 in 2023.
X-Forces Enterprise (XFE) and the Federation of Small Business (FSB) have collaborated extensively over the last few years, beginning with an insightful report into the business landscape for Service leavers:
A suite of guidance has been published by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). This guidance is designed to help medical device manufacturers understand and prepare for the new Post-market surveillance (PMS) regulation for medical devices in Great Britain (GB) which will come into force on the 16th June 2025.
Key new requirements are enhanced data collection, shorter timelines for reporting serious incidents and summary reporting to enable the MHRA and manufacturers to identify safety issues earlier, as well as clearer obligations for risk mitigation and communication to protect patients and users.
Businesses are encouraged to start using the guidance straight away so that they understand their obligations and are ready to comply with the regulations when they take effect.
These new regulations are part of wider regulatory reform and will introduce clearer and more risk-proportionate PMS requirements that improve the safety of medical devices across GB and provide certainty for manufacturers.
These new regulations will apply to medical devices, including in vitro diagnostic (IVD) devices and active implantable medical devices, in use in GB. However the PMS requirements vary based on the risk level posed by the device to patients. The guidance will provide additional detail on these requirements to support manufacturers with their PMS activities and help to ensure their devices continue to meet appropriate standards of safety and performance.
As businesses put the new guidance into use, feedback is welcomed, and the MHRA encourages this to be provided through Trade Associations, if businesses have one, who will be working closely with the MHRA to help identify and address where additional enhancements are needed. The MHRA will then update the guidance, if necessary, prior to the regulations coming into force.
Laura Squire, MedTech Regulatory Reform Lead and Chief Officer at the MHRA, said:
“The new Post-Market surveillance regulations will provide us with more safety information on medical devices in use in GB, allowing us to act swiftly when needed to reduce potential harm. This will enable not only the MHRA, but the whole health system, to better protect patients.
“Manufacturers should start using the guidance straight away so that they are ready to comply with the regulations.
“Feedback is encouraged and will help us to address additional enhancements should they be needed.”
In 2021, the MHRA consulted on the ‘Future Regulation of Medical Devices in the UK’ in response to recommendations set out in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) review, published in 2020.
Responses to the consultation were strongly supportive of introducing clearer and more robust PMS requirements to improve patient and public safety and called for closer alignment with international approaches.
This regulation delivers these requirements and will ensure that the MHRA has a strong foundation for patient safety in place before bringing forward future measures such as international reliance, which will allow patients to benefit more quickly from some types of medical devices that have already been approved for use in other countries.
This regulation marks a significant step forward in ensuring that medical devices used across the UK are safe, effective, and continually monitored for performance in real-world conditions, ensuring that patient safety remains at the forefront of our healthcare system.
The MHRA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe. All our work is underpinned by robust and fact-based judgements to ensure that the benefits justify any risks.
