Bassetlaw District Councillors have committed to do more to support Armed Forces Veterans in our district by backing the Royal British Legion’s ‘Credit their Service’ campaign.
The RBL’s campaign is asking for military compensation to be discounted as income when calculating means tested welfare benefits, including local benefits, and was the subject of a motion to Council as part of last night’s meeting.
Bassetlaw District Council already supports most of the asks of the campaign by discounting military compensation when calculating some local benefits including Council Tax Support, Housing Benefit and Disabled Facilities Grant.
This is in addition to the support the Council provides to Armed Forces Veterans and their families, serving members of the Armed Forces and Reservists through its commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, and by being a recipient of the Gold Award of the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme.
An amended Motion was carried unanimously during the latest meeting of Council on Thursday 19th September and commits the council to the following:
To note the Council’s existing measures that support the Royal British Legion’s Credit their Service campaign and to advise the Legion of the updates required to its website.
That the Council further support the campaign by exploring amendments to relevant local policies and means testing in regard to disregarding the Service Invalidating Pension for the Council Tax (Working Age) scheme and Disabled Facilities Grant.
Write to the Veteran’s Minister, urging a change in national regulations so that military compensation is universally not treated as income in benefit assessments.
Report progress back to Council in February 2026 as part of the annual review of the Council Tax Reduction scheme ensuring this has been considered within the overall context of the Council’s overall budget setting process.
Cllr Julie Leigh, Leader of Bassetlaw District Council, said:
“We have a long tradition of supporting the Armed Forces in Bassetlaw and I am delighted that last night’s amended motion was passed unanimously.
“We already support the majority of the Credit their Service campaign by fully disregarding the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, War Pension Scheme and Service Attributable Pension for Council Tax Support, Housing Benefit and Disabled Facilities Grant. Following last night's amended motion, we are now exploring the disregarding of Service Invalidating Pensions as well. We are meeting with the RBL’s campaigns team to look at how we can do this.
“At last night’s meeting, all Councillors stood to express their support for our veterans and Armed Forces Community. We are extremely grateful for their service and by further supporting the Credit their Service Campaign we will ensure that veterans in Bassetlaw are not disadvantaged by their Service.”
Bassetlaw’s current position to benefit disregards
DHPs are being replaced by the Crisis and Resilience Fund and will be administered by Nottinghamshire County Council from April.
The Council is reviewing its policies and means testing in relation to SIPs (Service Invalidating Pensions).
Last Updated on Monday, September 29, 2025