For businesses, there are a wide range of benefits of hiring veterans. People leaving the armed forces come with a huge amount of knowledge and experience gained in service that will be transferable to many civilian roles. As well as technical knowledge, Key advantages of hiring former service members include a good work ethic and strong leadership and teamwork skills.
The business sense of hiring veterans is increasingly well-recognised. Indeed, this growing trend has seen more than 15,000 businesses sign the Armed Forces Covenant and reap the rewards. What’s more, there are a number of government incentives in place for organisations that choose to hire veterans, including National Insurance relief.
Veterans bring skills honed in the military, which are transferable to a civilian career. They may not have the same formal qualifications recruiters are used to seeing, but businesses that are veteran-ready should be able to recognise the value of experience.
Employers who have hired veterans generally speak very highly of them. For instance, when the Office for Veterans’ Affairs surveyed senior decision-makers across UK businesses in 2022 asking for their opinions of veterans in the workplace, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Among the findings were:
Most telling is what happens after a business hires a veteran. Among employers who already employ ex-service personnel, 83 per cent said they want to recruit more.
It’s not just skills that ex-armed forces personnel bring to businesses. Research carried out by OnePoll on behalf of the Forces Employment Charity also found that 22 per cent of employers reported having a veteran in the organisation as great for building team spirit. So, how do veterans enhance workplace culture, teamwork and diversity?
The main financial incentive available to businesses when hiring veterans is a National Insurance break. Employers pay zero secondary Class 1 NICs on a qualifying veteran’s earnings, up to the Veterans Upper Secondary Threshold of £50,270 a year. This applies for 12 months from the first day of their first civilian job after leaving the regular forces. A veteran qualifies if they have completed at least one day of basic training. If they change jobs within that first year, a later employer can claim the remainder of the period.
With employer NICs at 15 per cent and the secondary threshold at £5,000, the benefits add up. For an employee on a £30,000 salary, you would save £3,750 across the year. At £50,270 or above, the maximum saving is £6,790. This relief is due to run until 5th April 2028.
How to claim:
Other incentives are worth pursuing too. Op ASCEND, the government-funded service delivered by the Forces Employment Charity, gives employers free recruitment support and a direct route to veteran candidates. The Defence Employer Recognition Scheme offers something different again: Bronze, Silver and Gold awards that publicly mark your business as forces-friendly, helping attract the veteran talent you need.
Hiring veterans can also boost a company’s social responsibility efforts and enhance its reputation in multiple ways, including:
Veterans are valuable candidates for vacant roles and hiring them can be a win-win situation for your company and the community it serves. When you combine the key benefits of impressive skill sets, diversity in the workforce and financial incentives, jobs for veterans just make sense.
If you don’t know where to start with recruiting veterans, there are a number of resources designed to help employers navigate the process.
The most direct route is to meet veterans in person. Register to exhibit at a Veteran UK careers fair and put your hiring team in front of hundreds of service leavers actively looking for their next role.
Yes. Employers pay no secondary Class 1 National Insurance on a qualifying veteran’s earnings up to £50,270 for 12 months, starting from their first civilian job after service. Anyone who completed a day of basic training qualifies for this.
Sign the Armed Forces Covenant, then review how your adverts read to someone from a military background, since unfamiliar job titles can put candidates off. From there, meet people directly. Exhibiting at a Veteran UK careers fair puts you in front of hundreds.
The National Insurance relief is the main one, saving up to £6,790 per veteran and running until April 2028. Op ASCEND adds free recruitment support and access to candidates, though that value is practical rather than financial.
Veterans compete on merit like anyone else. What they bring is leadership, problem solving and resilience under pressure, which is why 71 per cent of employers credit them with a strong work ethic and 67 per cent with problem solving.
Register to attend Veteran UK the largest careers fair for Veterans and Service Leavers.
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