What We Do
We support veterans from the UK Armed Forces and Merchant Navy along with their spouses, partners and carers throughout Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight, Gosport, Fareham, and more widely, Hampshire and the south of England.
VOS provides access to welfare support, whether it be from PIP to housing and more.
VOS organises activities, events and social groups to promote camaraderie, community and fun.
VOS supports members via cognitive, behavioural and emotional wellbeing therapies and treatments.
Serving Those Who Served Their Nation
Veterans Outreach Support (VOS) is an award-winning, UK registered charity that provides a welcoming and relaxed setting where UK veterans and family members can drop in for confidential social or psychological support. In recognition of its Falklands War-related origins, members of all three services of the British Armed Forces and Reserves, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and the Merchant Navy are welcome.
The VOS Mission Statement is, ‘To meet the welfare, wellbeing and mental health needs of veterans, including spouses, partners and carers.’ The charity’s HQ and main delivery venue is the Royal Maritime Hotel in Portsmouth – a familiar, safe and welcoming place for veterans.
Initially set up in 2008, financial support in 2013 facilitated its UK charity registration and enabled it to expand its services to families, deliver weekly therapy, as well as to embrace offenders and those with alcohol and substance abuse problems. In recent years, VOS has significantly expanded its range of peer-supported wellbeing activities and social groups and has seen increasing demand for its mental health services and support, as well as its work in support of alcohol and substance addiction and dependency recovery.
VOS is a local charity with national impact. Its operating model is recognised by Confederation of Service Charities (Cobseo) as a template of best practice and exemplar for a collaborative and efficient approach to delivering veteran-specific services at a local level.
- In 2021 VOS was the first recipient of the Shaping Portsmouth Armed Forces Covenant Award.
- In 2022 the charity was awarded the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award.
- We have also been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (now the King’s Award for Voluntary Service), the highest award that can be made to a voluntary group in the UK.
- Our quality delivery has also resulted in VOS being selected as one of only 10 national portfolio leads in the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust’s Thrive Together programme to improve the wellbeing and mental health of veterans across the South East of England.
All VOS support and services are enriched and strengthened by very close cooperation and collaboration with local and national delivery partners, such as other charities and statutory services including the NHS.
