VALOUR Scotland Field Officer - South

The Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA), within the Ministry of Defence (MOD), is responsible for coordinating the delivery of the Veterans Strategy. The strategy sets the government’s new vision for veterans and challenges the whole of society to think differently about those who have served in the Armed Forces, their offer and their potential.

The framework is grounded in three core themes, each an equal and vital part to ensuring the best outcomes for both veterans and the UK. Together, they represent a powerful new approach to recognising veterans as one of the UK’s great strategic assets, underpinned by this government’s commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant. The long-term framework sets the commitment to these themes, and shapes how OVA’s work is prioritised in terms of investment and effort.

In May 2025, the government announced VALOUR – the first ever UK-wide government-led approach to veteran support. Building on successful existing provision, this programme, backed by £50 million of funding, will provide ex-Service people with easier access to services across health, housing and employment.

This is a unique opportunity to make a tangible difference in the lives of veterans and their families by becoming a VALOUR Field Officer. You will become part of a team of passionate, committed, innovative and forward-thinking colleagues and be able to draw on a wealth of expertise to drive this ambitious programme forward. You will be able to make your mark by supporting VALOUR to transform the UK’s veteran support landscape.

This is an exciting time to join the OVA to join a dynamic team to support the VALOUR initiative, which will attract Ministerial and media attention. Additional information on VALOUR can be found at VALOUR: corporate information - GOV.UK.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

The VALOUR Field Officer is crucial to provide partnership and stakeholder engagement.

• You will work closely with a wide range of people and organisations, including local government and the VCSE Sector, to support, enhance and collaborate with existing networks across local, regional and national services, complementing their work and helping to strengthen connections across the sector.
• You will be a critical link into Defence for communities in your area on matters concerning veterans’ affairs, and a SME for Defence colleagues on the services, partnerships and networks operating within your area.
• You will identify and share insight, evidence, and good practice from across existing networks, ensuring that emerging themes, challenges, and opportunities are fed back to inform policy development and decision-making at regional and local levels.
• You will strengthen links between national, devolved and local partners, encouraging collaboration, knowledge exchange and shared learning, helping to build a more connected understanding of veterans’ needs and effective approaches to support and drive more consistent delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant and improved services for the Armed Forces community.
• You will champion innovation and continuous improvement, support the adoption of effective practice, and help partners across the veterans’ support landscape deliver better outcomes for veterans and their families.

Key work areas

• Develop and maintain trusting and effective relationships with regional and local stakeholders providing services to the Armed Forces community.
• Support and strengthen existing sub-regional forums and networks, helping to connect stakeholders, encourage collaboration and maintain effective channels for communication and information sharing.
• Identify opportunities to support the delivery of agreed strategic priorities, working with local government-led partnerships to encourage collaboration, shared learning, and coordinated action.
• Contribute to VALOUR system improvements by aiding visibility and understanding of the veteran support ecosystem at the regional and local level and sharing best practice across maintained partnerships.
• Promote awareness of statutory services and initiatives and influence regional strategies to improve outcomes for the Armed Forces community.
• Undertake other duties and activities as required to support the delivery of VALOUR and the wider objectives of VALOUR HQ and the Office for Veterans’ Affairs.

Please note that this role is likely to evolve to respond to priority changes to the Armed Forces support landscape and a degree of flexibility is expected, as well as a willingness to travel regularly.

You may be expected to undertake other duties and activities as required to support the delivery of VALOUR and the wider objectives of VALOUR HQ and the OVA.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history and qualification details.

Candidates will be required to provide a statement of suitability in no more than 500 words.

Important tip - please ensure that your statement includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above.

At sift, you will be assessed against your CV, Statement of suitability and the following Behaviours:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture

Should a large number of applications be received, the sift will be conducted in stages. An initial sift will be conducted using the Personal Statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to the second sift stage based on their CV and the lead behaviour (Communicating and Influencing). A final sift will then be conducted using the second behaviour (Seeing the Big Picture).

At interview, you will be assessed against your Strengths and the following Behaviours:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Changing and Improving

When choosing your Behaviour examples, please make sure you use real life scenarios that relate to your own experiences.

The sift is expected to be completed in September, with interviews being held in October. Dates are subject to change.

This advert is part of a series of regional recruitment campaigns. Applicants should apply directly to the vacancy for their preferred area. You may apply to more than one region, but each application will be assessed separately.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk .

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came in to effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.