This guidance will help you identify who is eligible for SSAFA support.

The frequently asked questions section gives further details around some of these groups.

Those eligible to apply for assistance from SSAFA are outlined in SSAFA’s Regulations. 

They include members and former members of all ranks of the regular and reserve British Armed Forces, who have received a minimum of one day’s paid service in one or more of the following:

• Royal Navy
• Royal Marines
• British Army
• Royal Air Force
• Merchant Navy (with conditions)

In addition, the following are also eligible for assistance:

• Wives and former wives
• Husbands and former husbands
• Widows and widowers
• Civil partners and former civil partners
• Partners who are, or were, in a long-term relationship with a client
• Children who are dependent on a client
• Those who provide, or provided care for a client

Please refer to the frequently answered questions below.

For any further questions or clarification required around eligibility please contact the Casework Support Manager [email protected]

Please note that all assistance providers have their own eligibility criteria for providing funds and these may differ from SSAFA.   

The regional offices are responsible for this and will establish eligibility when triaging a client.

The individual needs to be able to meet one of the requirements above to be eligible, so you should ask the client the following questions:

• the individual’s relationship to the person who served / is serving?
• which service the eligible person was / is enlisted with?

Yes, in some cases adult children dependent on an eligible person will also be eligible for support.  They are defined as those over the age of 18 who are not in fulltime education and are residing with the eligible person.

Documentation will be required to demonstrate that they do not have the capacity to financially support and care for themselves, due to a medically diagnosed serious long-term condition. The casework report should reflect the full situation.

Carers need to be:

• closely related to the eligible person for whom they care
• in a non-paid role making them financially reliant (with the exception of receiving state benefits)
• be able to show proof that they are a full-time carer to the eligible person 
• living with the eligible person for whom they are care
• have the ability to provide VoS in relation to the eligible person

Consideration will be given to carers during the six-month proceeding the death of the eligible person, if they met the above criteria during the eligible persons lifetime.

Yes, AFC Harrogate is an Army phase 1 training establishment for junior soldiers who are 16/17 years old.  They are enlisted in paid military service the same as soldiers of all ages at other phase 1 and 2 training establishments.

Yes, although only in a specific instance; those who have been in the Merchant Navy and served under the ‘Admiralty Charter’ (i.e. in waters officially recognised as operational during times of conflict) are generally eligible.  Please refer to the Merchant Navy Welfare Board (MNWB) to establish and confirm this.

Additionally, SSAFA has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Merchant Navy Welfare Board (MNWB) who will refer seafarers that they have already deemed as eligible to us for casework.

For further information on members of Merchant Navy please refer to COMPASS.

Yes, SSAFA has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the BABF to perform casework, although not almonisation or procurement. 

The BABF establish the client's eligibility and then contact the relevant regional office with a casework request copying in the Casework Support Manager.  Please refer to COMPASS for further details on how to run a BABF case.

CCF Cadets are not eligible:  CCF are a youth organisation that exists in many schools throughout the UK. Despite its partnership with the Ministry of Defence the CCF is not part of the British Armed Forces.

CCF Instructors are very occasionally eligible:  A CCF instructor will regularly receive expense payments from the MoD when performing their duties (e.g. summer camps) this is not paid service.  In the very odd circumstance a shortened version of phase 1 training may have been undertaken and therefore there could be paid service – the individual would need to prove this with pay slips from the MoD rather than receipts into their bank which are likely to be expense payments.  Many instructors are Veterans and therefore often eligible in their own right.

No, we only support those with a connection to the UK Armed Forces.  Members of the Armed Forces of Commonwealth countries are not eligible.

No, whilst they receive a service number, rank and are paid for their duties they do not participate in formal basic training as per the regular or reserve services and are not deployable units. 

They are designed to give university students an understanding of service life and transferable skills and are supported by the MoD as a recruitment path into the Armed Forces. 

No, those who worked alongside the UK Armed Forces in Afghanistan or other refugees brought over by the UK Government are not eligible. 

For further information please refer to COMPASS.