Help for Heroes: Veterans and Family Survey

Help for Heroes is a UK charity that provides support to veterans and their families. The charity’s mission is to empower wounded, injured, and sick veterans to reach their potential and lead fulfilling lives. In 2022, Help for Heroes introduced its ten-year strategy, LiveWell2032, that defines the charity’s need, purpose, and vision to better serve the Armed Forces community.  Over the next 10 years, they will ensure that members of the Armed Forces community can live well after service, by focusing on four outcomes: access to support, adapting and managing, valued and recognised, and equipped for life after service. 

To support these strategic aims, Help for Heroes commissioned M·E·L Research to undertake a large-scale piece of research to build a robust evidence base around the needs, experiences and wellbeing of UK Armed Forces veterans and their close family members, and to contextualise these findings against the wider UK population.

The charity required a detailed and credible understanding of veterans’ lives and how experiences differed by service history, health status, time since leaving service and wider demographic factors. Alongside veterans themselves, Help for Heroes also wanted to understand the experiences of close family members, recognising the important role families play during and after the transition to civilian life and the potential impacts of service on their own wellbeing.

The research needed to address a number of potentially sensitive topics, including physical and mental health conditions, disability, compensation, transition out of service and feelings of preparedness for civilian life. It also required engagement with specific and sometimes harder-to-reach groups, such as younger veterans, those who had been medically discharged, and people living with chronic pain or limiting health conditions. Ensuring sufficient sample sizes for sub-group analysis, while maintaining representativeness for comparison with the wider population, was a key consideration throughout the design.

Approach 

To ensure a comprehensive understanding of veterans’ experiences, the research includes four main participant groups:

1. A representative sample of 1,000 Veterans: To obtain insights that reflect the experiences of the wider veteran population, not limited to those already engaged with support services / engaged with H4H, to enable Help for Heroes to understand broader trends and unmet needs within the veteran community. This sample was collected through an external panel partner. 
2. Veterans Engaged Through Help for Heroes: By reaching veterans who are already connected to Help for Heroes’ or partner services through social media and newsletters, this group provided insight into the specific experiences of those who actively seek support. 
3. A nationally representative baseline sample of 1,000 UK residents to benchmark veterans’ experiences against, ensuring insights are both distinctive and meaningful. 
4. A sample of 500 family members of current or former serving members of the UK Armed forces, to understand the challenges faced by close family members of members of the Armed Forces. 

The wording of each survey was tailored to the relevant sample it is being asked to, with topics including: 

• Physical and mental health: Understanding the health status of veterans, including both physical and mental aspects, and how these impact their daily lives.
• Loneliness and social isolation: Examining the prevalence and effects of loneliness among veterans, which can affect mental health and social well-being.
• Benefits and pensions: Identifying any barriers or challenges veterans experience in accessing benefits and pensions, highlighting areas for potential support.
• Exercise and well-being: Assessing veterans’ current exercise habits, exploring ways to promote well-being through physical activity.

Additionally, a number of steps were taken to ensure the survey was accessible to all audiences, including respondents who may face challenges in completing traditional online surveys. This included using survey software that is WCAG AAA approved, having the option to complete the survey by telephone interview, and the use of visual, as well as word-based answer options, for ease of comprehension.

Outputs

M·E·L Research undertook comprehensive quantitative analysis of the data, combining descriptive statistics with extensive sub-group analysis to explore how experiences and outcomes varied by demographic characteristics, service background, health status and life circumstances. Comparisons were systematically drawn between veterans, family members and the nationally representative sample to highlight similarities and differences across key measures. Where appropriate, results were benchmarked against external population data sources to support contextual interpretation.

Findings were reported in a detailed, structured research report, supported by clear data tables and charts to enable stakeholders to interrogate the results in depth. The outputs were designed to be accessible to a broad audience within Help for Heroes, while retaining sufficient methodological detail and statistical robustness to support external scrutiny and evidence-based decision-making.

This data is essential not only to inform their service provision and programme development but also to guide communications, fundraising, and awareness-raising efforts. By identifying and addressing the specific issues veterans face, Help for Heroes will be able to tailor its support offerings and advocacy efforts more effectively, aligning all activities with the goals set out in LiveWell2032.