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<p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) started collecting data on the Armed
Forces status of Universal Credit (UC) claimants in Great Britain (GB) in April 2021.
At first only new claimants were asked about their Armed Forces status. From June
2021 onwards, other UC claimants reporting changes in their work and earnings have
also been able to report their status. From July 2021 onwards, UC agents have also
been able to record claimants’ Armed Forces status if they are told about this via
other means such as journal messages, face-to-face meetings or by telephone.</p><p>
</p><p>It should be noted that Armed forces status is self-reported by claimants and
is not verified by the Ministry of Defence or Office for Veterans’ Affairs. A claimant’s
status can be recorded as “currently serving”, “served in the past”, “not served”
or “prefer not to say”.</p><p> </p><p>By 14th March 2024, an armed forces status of
“served in the past” had been recorded for approximately 110,000 claimants with UC
claims for which a statement had been generated. This figure includes some people
who are no longer on the UC caseload, some who had a nil payment claim and some who
subsequently reported a different armed forces status, e.g. “currently serving”. It
should be noted that the available data does not allow a comprehensive estimate of
the total number of UC claimants who are, or have been, veterans.</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p>1.
The figure provided is for Great Britain. Data is not collected on the Armed Forces
status of UC claimants in Northern Ireland.</p><p>2. The figure provided has been
rounded to the nearest ten thousand.</p><p> </p>
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