Casework Support Guidance:
Verification of Service of service should be attached to the beneficiaries ‘Person Summary’ on Mosaic (all other documents should be attached inside the specific case at Stage 2 'Application for Assistance'), this means that it can be used for the current case and all future cases, and can be accessed by all COBSEO Mosaic users.
The Verification of Service Form can be downloaded here, it must be signed by the client and then emailed to the relevant address shown on page 2 of the form.
Army: to access the relevant Regimental Benevolence Funds you will always require officially recognised VoS documents (discharge papers / ‘Red Book’ which is the service record book / VoS from the Army Disclosure Cell) as it shows the clients Regimental affiliation i.e. the Regiment/Regiments for which they wore the cap-badge, rather than the ones they were ‘attached’ to e.g. a REME soldier wears that cap badge but during their time in service they will have worked with various Regiments such as The Royal Tank Regiment and The Scots Dragoon Guards sometimes for years at a time, they are still only entitled to support from the funds whose cap badge they wore which in this case is the REME.
Soldiers do sometime transfer cap badge in which case their VoS will show this and as the Caseworker you should almonise with both Regimental funds.
Where VoS is not available from the client and you wish to proceed with the case the recommendation is that you apply for formal VoS to the disclosure cell, and additionally you can contact the Regimental Association to see if they hold details for that soldier which would enable you to proceed with the case, this would be seen as Proof of Service not VoS.
Contacts for the Regimental Associations can be found under the ‘Organisation’ tab on Mosaic – use the ‘%’ sign to help search e.g., ‘%Engineers’.
For Emergency Proof of Service information click HERE
Verification of Service gives more detail of service than the various forms of Proof of Service. It will give a service number, if one wasn’t known, where the individual served, which regiment/unit/corps if Army etc. all of which is needed to access the full breadth of funds. There is normally a certificate provided as part of this.
If your beneficiary no longer has their Verification of Service this is applied for using the COBSEO Verification of Service form and is sent directly to the service records office for each service known as Disclosure Cells.
Other documents can also be used as Verification of Service if they contain name, address, photo ID etc. Examples of this are official documents such as a Certificate of Service, a red or blue service book, a formal pension letter (front page with no financial data included for GDPR reasons), or even a Veteran’s railcard or ID card. These though do not show an Army Veterans related Corps / Unit / Regiment.
You are requested to email VoS to the relevant disclosure cell. We have been assured that any emailed forms will receive a reply, even if it is, “at this time we are unable to verify this individuals service”. We would still encourage you to submit cases to funders where the need is urgent.
All forms should be signed by the beneficiary.
APC Glasgow have instructed that all forms should now be signed by the beneficiary. Without this they will only be able to confirm minimal details.
Details on where to email completed VoS forms are on page 2 of the form, and are as follows:
Navy - [email protected]
Army - [email protected]
RAF - [email protected]
We will continue to work with the various disclosure cells to work on issues that may arise and how we can make this service better for all. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]