Hotline for ex-troops receiving nearly 100 calls a day after reopening

A hotline for former military personnel is getting nearly 100 calls a day after reopening.

Ministers faced a backlash after the Veterans UK helpline was closed when MoD staff began working remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now it has emerged the service answered 450 calls in just five days after reopening.

More than 9,000 emails requesting help had also been sent since March 23.

Labour’s shadow minister for veterans Sharon Hodgson said: “That so many people called the Veterans UK helpline telephone service in such a short space of time shows there is a real need for it and it should never have been suspended.

Labour’s shadow minister for veterans Sharon Hodgson said this 'just shows that there is a real need for this service' (Newcastle Chronicle)

“There was no good reason why the telephone service could not be re-directed to a work from home setting.

This is just another example of the Government letting down veterans and families in their time of need.”

A Veterans UK spokesman said the organisation “had to adapt its delivery of support during the Covid lockdown”.

He added: “An email and automated phone system was employed throughout and all urgent welfare requests were responded to on the same day by our advisers. The call facility was reinstated on June 3.”