A SNAPSHOT of England and Wales, taken in March last year, discovered how many veterans were living in each area, the first figures of their kind reveal.
Census respondents were asked whether they had previously served in the UK armed forces in a bid to improve the treatment of veterans across the two nations through better data.
In North and West Cumbria, there were 14,097 people who identified themselves as having previously served or currently serve in any UK armed forces.
The breakdown of these figures are:
- Allerdale - 3,985
- Copeland - 3,054
- Carlisle - 4,892
- Eden - 2,166
In Allerdale, 4.9 per cent of the population were veterans. 3.8 per cent were regular service, 0.9 per cent were reserve and 0.2 per cent identified themselves as both.
In Copeland, 5.5 per cent of the population were veterans. 4.3 per cent were regular service, 1.0 per cent were reserve and 0.2 per cent identified themselves as both.
In Carlisle, 5.4 per cent of the population were veterans. 4.2 per cent were regular service, 0.9 per cent were reserve and 0.3 per cent identified themselves as both.
Finally, in Eden, 4.6 per cent of the population were veterans. 3.5 per cent were regular service, 0.9 per cent were reserve and 0.2 per cent identified themselves as both.
Lieutenant-General Sir Andrew Gregory, KBE, CB, DL, chief executive at SSAFA, said: “Tracking numbers of veterans has always been challenging and these statistics provide an extremely useful snapshot and insight into the total population and distribution of Armed Forces veterans throughout England and Wales.
“Until now we have had to make informed estimates in order to plan our UK-wide resourcing.
"Over the coming months we will work closely with the Ministry of Defence and the Office for Veterans Affairs as the full picture and implications of these statistics become clear.”
If you know of someone from the Armed Forces community in Cumbria in need; SSAFA have caseworkers to assess what help they may require or be entitled to.
SSAFA also runs a range of support services including Forcesline, a confidential helpline, for more information, please visit SSAFA's website.
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