Help With Home Adaptations for Veterans: Support You May Not Know Is Available

Written By Simon Symcox, Founder and Director of Living Well Bathrooms.

There is something I have noticed over many years of working with people who have served in the British Armed Forces: they are often far more comfortable offering help than asking for it.

They get on with things. They look after themselves and their families. And even when illness, disability or reduced mobility starts making everyday life difficult, their instinct can still be:

“I’ll manage.”

I understand that personally. My own father Peter Symcox, or ‘Deedee’ as he was known, served in the Armed Forces and, later in life, developed Parkinson’s disease. As his condition progressed and he eventually needed nursing care, he was very reluctant to ask anyone for financial help.

It was myself and my siblings who started looking into what support might be available and that’s how our family discovered SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity.

They helped our family at a time when we needed it, and I have never forgotten it.

It’s one of the reasons I want more veterans and their families to know that support exists,  including help that may enable someone to remain safer and more independent in their own home.

You may have more options than you realise

If reduced mobility or a health condition is making your home difficult to use, your first thought may be to approach your local authority.

For some people, statutory funding such as a Disabled Facilities Grant may indeed be an option. We have a separate guide explaining Disabled Facilities Grants and funding for accessible bathrooms in more detail.

But not everybody will qualify for statutory funding, and it isn’t necessarily the end of the road if you don’t.

If you have served in the Armed Forces, there may be other organisations you can approach for help.

SSAFA, the Royal British Legion, Help for Heroes and Service-specific charities are among the organisations supporting veterans and their families with issues including disability, mobility, independent living and, in some circumstances, adaptations to the home.

Different organisations have different eligibility criteria and funding arrangements, so there is no guarantee that financial assistance will be available.

But my advice is very simple:

Don’t decide that you aren’t eligible before you’ve asked.

“But I left the military years ago”

This is something I particularly want older veterans to understand.

Leaving the Services many years ago does not necessarily mean that you’ve lost your connection to the Armed Forces community or that there is no support available to you.

SSAFA, for example, supports veterans as well as serving personnel and their families. Its support can include practical and financial assistance, depending on the individual’s circumstances.

I’ve met people who seem almost embarrassed by the idea of approaching a military charity because they served decades ago.

Please don’t be.

The organisation will determine whether you’re eligible. Your job is simply to explain your circumstances honestly and ask what help may be available.

When your home starts taking away your independence

Often, difficulties around the home don’t appear overnight.

You adapt.

Perhaps you’ve stopped using the bath because getting your legs over the side has become too difficult.

Maybe your husband or wife now has to help you shower.

Perhaps getting on and off the toilet is becoming harder, or steps and thresholds around the house are starting to cause problems.

Eventually, you can find yourself depending on somebody else to do things you’ve always done independently.

That’s where the right adaptations can make an enormous difference.

Depending on a person’s needs, this could mean changes to the bathroom, ramps or improved access, mobility equipment or other alterations that make the home safer and easier to use.

The important point is that support for veterans isn’t necessarily limited to pensions or benefits. There are organisations that specifically understand the Armed Forces community and may be able to help you explore practical solutions.

SSAFA – where our family found help

SSAFA is particularly close to our hearts because of the help it gave my father.

It provides practical, financial and emotional support to serving personnel, veterans and their families.

If you’re unsure where to begin, contacting SSAFA and explaining your circumstances is a sensible first step. Its Forcesline service can help identify what support may be available and where you should go next.

There are real examples of this support making an enormous difference.

SSAFA has previously shared the story of an 87-year-old National Service veteran whose declining health meant he could no longer use his bath. A SSAFA caseworker helped seek financial assistance and his bath was eventually replaced with a walk-in shower that he could use independently.

That’s exactly the sort of help many veterans simply don’t realise might be possible.

Other Armed Forces organisations worth approaching

SSAFA isn’t the only place to ask.

The Royal British Legion provides support to the Armed Forces community and offers advice around mobility, independent living and obtaining funding for adaptations to the home.

Help for Heroes also supports veterans living with injuries and illnesses. Its welfare and grants teams may, depending on eligibility and individual circumstances, help with adaptations that enable someone to use their home more safely , including adaptations to bathrooms.

There are also Service-specific organisations and benevolent funds supporting former members of the Army, Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Royal Marines.

You don’t necessarily need to work out which organisation is going to fund what before you make contact.

Start the conversation.

If one organisation isn’t able to provide the support you need, it may be able to point you towards another that can.

“Someone else needs the money more than I do”

I’ve heard variations of this many times.

“I’m managing.”

“There are people worse off than me.”

“I don’t want to take money away from another veteran.”

I understand where that comes from. In many ways, it’s completely consistent with the values people learn in the Services: look after your mates and don’t make a fuss about yourself.

But charitable organisations have their own criteria and processes for deciding who they can help.

You aren’t taking money away from somebody else simply by asking what support is available.

Let the charity make that decision.

If they can help you, that’s precisely what the organisation exists to do.

Making funding work as hard as possible

There is another side to this that matters enormously to me.

If a charity or other organisation contributes towards adaptations to someone’s home, I believe everyone involved has a responsibility to make that funding work as hard as possible.

When an Occupational Therapist has identified what someone needs to remain safe and independent, those requirements should come first.

That might mean improving access to a shower, providing appropriate seating or support, changing the layout of a room or addressing another practical difficulty.

It shouldn’t be about adding unnecessary extras simply because somebody else is contributing towards the cost.

Sometimes a simpler design can achieve exactly the same outcome. Sometimes an existing feature can be retained. Sometimes there is a more economical way of achieving what the Occupational Therapist has recommended.

Good adaptation design isn’t about spending the most money. It’s about solving the right problem.

That has always mattered to us.

The Armed Forces connection at Living Well Bathrooms

Our connection with the military continues today.

My father served, and our family experienced first-hand the support available through the Armed Forces charitable community.

Today, my son Charlie, who is Director of Living Well Bathrooms, is himself a former Royal Navy officer.

So when we meet veterans who are struggling at home, this isn’t simply another customer group to us. There is a genuine family connection and an understanding of why asking for help doesn’t always come easily.

And that’s really why I wanted to write this.

Not to sell bathrooms.

Simply to make more people aware that if you’ve served, there may be help available that you don’t know about.

If you’ve served, ask the question

If illness, disability or reduced mobility is making everyday life at home more difficult, don’t automatically assume you have to pay for everything yourself  or simply put up with it.

Speak to your local authority about any statutory support via a Disabled Facilities Grant for which you may be eligible.

But also tell them that you’re a veteran and contact organisations within the Armed Forces community.

Start with SSAFA, the Royal British Legion or Help for Heroes, or approach a charity associated with your particular Service.

We can’t promise that funding will be available. Every organisation will assess your circumstances against its own criteria.

But please don’t rule yourself out without asking.

Our family might never have discovered the help available to my father if we hadn’t asked the question for him.

And that’s the message I’d like other veterans and their families to take from this:

You spent part of your life serving and looking out for others. If you need some help now, allow the Armed Forces community the opportunity to look out for you.

Simon Symcox
Founder, Living Well Bathrooms (formerly AHM Installations)