Roland Elcock House in Wolverhampton, the new £1.26m development by Stonham (part of Home Group; the UK’s largest provider of care and support) containing 14 self-contained flats specifically developed for ex-Service personnel, was opened in an official ceremony on Monday, 29 September.

The occasion also saw the launch of a ‘Stonham Veterans Service’ (SVS) funded by a grant of £261,891 over 3 years, from the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT). The ‘Veterans Transition Service’ (STS) will be based in Roland Elcock House, which is designed to help ex-Service Personnel who are experiencing a range of difficulties in their transition to civilian life.

The ceremony was conducted by Wolverhampton Mayor Councillor Michael Heap, Home Group head of client services Claire Lees, and Air Vice-Marshal Ray Lock CBE, Chief Executive of the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT). Ray Lock spoke about the challenges of an unsuccessful transition at the ceremony which was also attended by Richard Dowsett, Funding Manager at the Big Lottery Fund (BIG).

FiMT continues BIG’s long-standing legacy of support for veterans across the UK with an endowment of £35 million awarded by BIG in 2012.

The VTS was developed following consultation with other charities and organisations within the Armed Forces community. STS gives residents access to training and employment opportunities, helping them gain life-skills and enable them to move on to self-supported living.

Ray Lock said: “Most Service Leavers make a successful transition into civilian life but for a few it can be fraught with challenges. We are delighted to be involved with projects like the Stonham Veterans Service, which will equip this particularly vulnerable cohort with a secure place to live and invaluable life skills to help them make their transition a success.  The independent evaluation will also allow us to use the learning from this innovative programme to influence national policy and service delivery.”

About the Roland Elcock Building

  • The Roland Elcock building, was named after Major Roland Elcock, a soldier from the local area who served in both world wars and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 15 October 1918 south-east of Capelle St. Catherine, France.

About Home Group Limited:

  • Home Group is one of the UK’s largest providers of high quality housing and supported housing services and products.
  • Home Group is a social enterprise and a charity (Charitable Community Benefit Society No. 22981R) with a turnover of £327m.
  • Our mission is “to help our customers and clients to open doors to new opportunities and healthy lives.”
  • We provide general needs housing and supported housing services targeted towards helping some of society’s most vulnerable people take control of their own lives. We:
    • house more than 120,000 people a year in 55,000 homes across 200 local authority areas in England, Scotland and Wales.
    • work with almost 30,000 vulnerable people through 500+ supported housing, justice and health services each year.
  • Care and Support services focus on housing related support, criminal justice and health services.

For more information:  http://www.homegroup.org.uk or  www.twitter.com/homegroup