• Handling welfare-related enquiries, including providing advice, conducting interviews/visits and coordinating assistance.
• Liaising with service charities, employment associations, government departments, local authorities and other agencies in the delivery of welfare support.
• Liaising with GVACs and Records office in Nepal and Veterans UK for various documentation.
• Help and advice on Fast-track National Insurance number.
• Providing advice and assistance on statutory state benefit claims.
• Help and advice for those in financial difficulties.
• Help and advice on funeral procedures and possible grants.
• Conducting outreach surgeries in Gurkha communities where welfare demands exist.
• Providing advice and signposting to relevant organisation on prudent planning to avoid welfare problems.
• Working with Gurkha Brigade Association, Gurkha Welfare Trust branches and Gurkha community groups.
• Developing/coordinating the Brigade's network of 'informal support'.
• Disseminating information on the Brigade's UK welfare arrangements.
• With the introduction of the new HM Forces Immigration Rule in October 2004, applying to those retiring on or after 1 July 1997, significant numbers of retired Gurkhas became entitled to live and work in the UK.
• The Army Benevolent Fund (ABF), The Royal British Legion, SSAFA-Forces Help and other service charities all pledged to assist Gurkhas in the same way as they support British ex-servicemen. The Brigade Secretariat in HQ Brigade of Gurkhas took on a coordinating role and, in April 2007, opened the Gurkha Welfare Support Office in Aldershot as a forward operating base.
• On 21 May 2009 the Home Office announced that Gurkhas who served between 1948 and 1997 for four years or more would also be allowed to settle in the UK. The MOD is coordinating cross-government action to assist those who wish to come here and has established the Gurkha Settlement Office in Kathmandu to provide advice.
• Meanwhile, the Gurkha Welfare Trust, which since 2006 has been making annual grants to the ABF, has become more directly involved in coordinating welfare work in the UK, although its priority remains the alleviation of hardship and distress for Gurkha veterans and widows in Nepal.
• The Trust, the leading Gurkha charity, has combined with HQ Brigade of Gurkhas to establish the Gurkha Welfare Advice Centre at Salisbury in 2010, with a reinforced office in Aldershot (based on the former Gurkha Welfare Support Office). The joint centre aims to assist Gurkhas already settled in the UK and new arrivals, if they run into welfare difficulties.
Gurkha Welfare Advice Centre, Salisbury
PO Box 2170
22 Queen Street,
SALISBURY
Wiltshire
SP2 2EX
Tel: 01722 343111
Email: [email protected]
Head of Gurkha Welfare - Captain (Retd) Gary Ghale
Tel: 01722 343116
Email: [email protected]
Assistant Head of Gurkha Welfare - Captain (Retd) Nirmal Gurung
Tel: 01722 343117
Email: [email protected]
Gurkha Welfare Advice Centre, Aldershot
1st Floor
35-39 High Street
Aldershot
Hants
GU11 1BH
Tel: 01252 329460
Email: [email protected]
Brigade Welfare Officer: Captain (Retd) Mahendrakumar Limbu MBE
Tel No: 01252 315152
Email: [email protected]
Assistant Brigade Welfare Officer: Lieutenant (Hon) Tulbahadur Gurung
Tel No: 01252 310469
Email: [email protected]