Military Advocacy Service: Interim Evaluation Report

Abstract: SERIO, an applied research unit at the University of Plymouth, is conducting a rigorous and independently verified evaluation of seAp’s Military Advocacy Service (mAs). mAs was developed in response to a gap in specialist provision for military veterans and their families. It is a service intended to recognise the complexity of its clients’ needs, and aims to offer more intense, specialist support than is available elsewhere. mAs aims to be a more open and flexible service, capable of addressing a wide range of issues. It offers a practical and resilience building model of support, designed to empower individuals who engage with the service to find solutions and deal with their life issues, whatever they may be, in order to help them get their lives back on course. mAs endeavours to ‘walk alongside’ all clients, assisting them in navigating the myriad of agencies and services available to them. seAp conveys belief in the power of its peer-delivered military advocacy model to transform people’s lives, and wishes for it to become a statutory service which would be available to all veterans in England. To this end, seAp is seeking to broaden the understanding of military advocacy, and its potential social and financial benefits, held by government, national organisations and a wider audience. This service evaluation aims to gather findings and evidence around the effectiveness of mAs. This evaluation will clearly demonstrate, where evidence is uncovered, the impact of advocacy, as well as making a significant contribution to the general understanding of advocacy more widely. The interim report presented here builds on the early findings report produced last year. The methodological approach has broadened since the initial exploration, widening to include interviews with delivery staff; a greater level of participation from both Advocates and clients, focus groups; more in depth analysis; and the production of additional case studies. It also now takes on board the external stakeholder voice.