The Verdict [Misleading]
The U.K. government allocated £3.5 million to support veterans and has projected that it will spend £174 billion on pensioners.
What’s being claimed?
A post circulating on social media claims the United Kingdom government has not allocated or released any funds for veterans or pensioners in the country.
A Facebook user shared a post that reads, “£17 MILLION FOR GAZA. £41.5 MILLION FOR PAKISTAN. £12 BILLION FOR UKRAINE, NO MONEY FOR UK PENSIONERS OR VETERANS. YOU DON’T HATE THIS GOVERNMENT ENOUGH. who agrees this is outrageous.” The post includes photos of U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves. An archive of similar posts can be found here and here.
However, the claim is misleading. The U.K. government allocated £3.5 million to support veterans facing homelessness, and £166 billion is allocated for pensioners’ benefits.
Here are the facts
Veterans Support
The Defence and Armed Forces published a press release on November 8 last year that Prime Minister Keir Starmer allocated £3.5 million to veterans at risk of or experiencing homelessness. Starmer announced this support when he hosted the veterans and families ahead of Remembrance Day. He added that the support will be provided throughout 2025 and into 2026.
Veterans are entitled to benefits like compensation for injury or illness caused during service, mental health support, housing and homelessness, and pensions and finances, including armed force pensions. According to the Veterans Action Strategy Plan 2022-2024 submitted by the previous government under Prime Minister Boris Johnson, over £70 million was allocated to be spent on veterans within this plan alone.
Pensioners Support
The Department for Work and Pensions stated this February that the government is forecasted to “spend £174.8 billion on benefits for pensioners” in 2025-26. Of this, £146.6 billion is allocated for the State Pension, a regular payment given to the U.K. government’s eligible pensioners. Pensioners receive benefits like Pension Credit, State Pension, Attendance Allowance, etc.
The U.K. government estimated that in 2024-25, it will spend £166 billion on pensioners’ benefits. £138 billion was allocated to State Pension benefits, £14 billion for Disability benefits, £7 billion for housing benefits, and £6 billion for pension credits, according to a House of Commons report.
We verified the other claims made about other countries in the viral post. We found that the U.K. government provided £17 million in supporting aid to Gaza in January 2025, £41.5 million in development aid to Pakistan in 2023, and £12.8 billion in military and nonmilitary aid to Ukraine. While the country did provide aid to the three countries, the claim wrongly states that no support was issued to veterans or pensioners in the U.K.
The verdict
Our research shows that U.K. government has allocated a budget for veterans and pensioners in 2024 and 2025.
This article is written by Rajini KG and republished from Logically Facts. Read the original article here.
Reference Links
Support for veterans and their families – GOV.UK – Refutes
Wider services and support available to UK Armed Forces and Veterans – GOV.UK – Refutes
Nearly fifty thousand extra pensioners receiving vital Pension Credit support following surge in claims processed – GOV.UK – Refutes
Age UK – Refutes
UK Parliament House of Commons Library – Refutes
New humanitarian support for Gaza as ceasefire allows operations to scale up – GOV.UK – Refutes
UK allocates £41.5m in development assistance to Pakistan for FY24 – Dawn – Refutes
UK support to Ukraine: factsheet – GOV.UK – Refutes
Government boosts support for veterans ahead of Remembrance – GOV.UK – Refutes
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