The Royal British Legion – Working well with local government

On Friday 15th August, the Royal British Legion (RBL), in partnership with the UK Government, hosted a National Commemorative Event at the National Memorial Arboretum to mark the 80th Anniversary of Victory over Japan Day and the end of the Second World War. Local RBL branches also led commemorations in their own communities.

As well as our central role in leading the nation in Remembrance, RBL speaks as the voice of our Armed Forces community, and represents their interests to national, devolved and local government.

Through our successful Count Them In campaign, both the 2021 England and Wales Census, and 2022 Scotland Census, included a question on Armed Forces service for the first time. More than two million veterans were recorded across Great Britain.

The results of the census have provided fascinating insights into the size and shape of the Armed Forces community. For example, though the large majority of British veterans are male, the 2021 Census recorded a significant population of female veterans, just over 270,000 in total. Furthermore, whilst the single largest age cohort was 85 years and over (371k), around 960,000 British veterans under 65 years old were recorded.

Across Great Britain, 4.5% of Welsh adults were recorded as veterans, compared to 3.9% in Scotland and 3.8% in England. The local authority areas with the highest percentage veteran population in each respective nation were Conwy (5.9%), Moray (9%) and Gosport (12.5%).

As well as these veterans, RBL represents presently serving personnel and their families – all of whom belong to the Armed Forces community.

Every council area has its own Armed Forces community, and since its introduction in 2011, all British local authorities have voluntarily signed their own Armed Forces Covenant.

More recently, through the Armed Forces Covenant Duty, councils have been legally bound to give due regard to the principles of the Covenant in healthcare, education and housing – meaning that local government now plays a larger role in supporting the Armed Forces community.

In June 2025, the UK Government announced that this legal Covenant Duty will soon be expanded into an additional eleven policy areas, including social care, welfare, and childcare, amongst others. Both national and devolved government will also be brought into scope.

RBL is keen to work alongside local government to develop improved policy and provision for our Armed Forces community, and appreciates the support which we receive from elected members and council officers.

In that spirit of constructive collaboration, this year we published our RBL Councillor Casework Guide.

RBL Councillor Casework Guide

This guide is a new resource which contains a wealth of information, to help councillors better support residents and improve lives in our Armed Forces community.

In publishing our Councillor Casework Guide, RBL Director General, Mark Atkinson, commented: ‘We work in partnership with both national and local statutory services and other charitable organisations. The sharing of expertise, resources, and experiences between these services and charities like RBL, results in quick and effective action to support those most in need.’

The RBL Councillor Casework Guide can be accessed here.

Our RBL Councillor Casework Guide provides information and advice on many matters, including housing, schools, health and social care, amongst others. One issue which some of the poorest veterans face is the unfair treatment of their military compensation, and through our RBL Credit Their Service campaign, we are seeking to correct this injustice.

RBL Credit Their Service campaign

150,000 members of the Armed Forces community receive compensation awarded by the UK Government to support with the ongoing costs of an illness or injury acquired in service.

Whilst local authorities are not presently mandated to exempt military compensation within means tests for locally administered benefits, RBL believes that these payments should not be considered as income. Councils should use their existing discretionary powers to disregard military compensation when assessing eligibility for local benefits.

In recent years, RBL has worked with fifty councils to ensure they no longer treat military compensation unfairly, and welcome further opportunities to work with local government across the country to ensure that all councils do the same.

To see how your council currently performs, please see our Credit Their Service interactive map via Credit their Service.

Alongside campaigning for fair treatment of military compensation, we represent the interests of our Armed Forces community in a wide variety of issues which adversely affect them. We keep our local government partners informed of this advocacy through our RBL Councillor Network.

RBL Councillor Network

RBL welcomes all representatives from every level of local government in England and Wales – from town, community and parish councils to directly elected mayors – to join our Councillor Network via rbl.org.uk/councillornetwork.

As a member of our Network, you will receive regular newsletters about the wider work of RBL, information on annual Remembrance and the Poppy Appeal, details of upcoming commemorative events, and guidance as to how you can best support our Armed Forces community.

If you hold elected office in Scottish or Northern Irish local government, and would like to support our work, please email: publicaffairs@britishlegion.org.uk.

If you do not serve in elected local government office, but would like to support our work, please join our RBL Campaigner Community via rbl.org.uk/campaigners.

Thank you very much for reading this article, and for your support for RBL and our Armed Forces community. It is greatly appreciated. If you would like more information on any of the above topics, or would like to support our work, please email: councillornetwork@britishlegion.org.uk.