About SSAFA Forces Help

SSAFA Forces Help is committed to helping anyone who has served just one paid day in any of our three Armed Forces, including the Reserves and those who did National Service - and their dependants, including their husbands or wives, children, widows and widowers.

No other Service-related charity operates on the same scale within the Armed Forces community and SSAFA Forces Help estimates that one quarter of the UK's population is eligible for its assistance.

It helps different communities in different ways, from support networks for the families of serving soldiers who have been posted abroad to obtaining electric wheelchairs and stairlifts for those in need who may have served as long ago as the Second World War.

Its priority is people and it is committed to helping in any way it can, regardless of age or condition.

For the serving community and their families, it provides a health service and social work service for many working overseas and some in the UK. It offers support to those with or who have a family member with special needs or disabilities. It is also a registered adoption agency.

Other services for the serving community include a Family Escort Service, Confidential Support Line and Stepping Stone Homes. It also has a network of volunteer workers providing advice, financial and practical support.

For the ex-Service community and their families, its services include financial and housing assistance, such as help applying for benefits or
pensions or getting funding for home adaptations and equipment for those in need, as well as guidance to solutions for other problems such as replacing stolen medals or tracing lost service buddies.

Our history

The Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association was founded in 1885 by Colonel Sir James Gildea, who stated: "No greater responsibility rests on men and women than the care of the wives and families of their soldiers and sailors."

The charity later became The Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmen's Families Association in 1921, after the creation of the Royal Air Force in
1918.

In 1899, the Forces Help Society was formed by distinguished serving and retired officers from the Army and Navy, to support men discharged from the Army or Navy, helping them to adjust to civilian life.

SSAFA Forces Help was formed in 1997 when two charities, the Forces Help Society and SSAFA amalgamated after 100 years of working towards the same goals.