​The Scottish Veterans Fund has been opened up to support charities running projects that last longer than one year

A fund aimed at charities looking to support ex-service personnel has been expanded to offer support to organisations for up to three years instead of just one.

The Scottish Veterans Fund has a total of £600,000 available and has been changed to benefit charities carrying out more strategic projects.

The fund, which is now open, will however continue to help single-year projects as well as those which last for two or three years.

We are aware of the difficulties faced by a small number of veterans in accessing some service

Announcing the fund Scottish Government veterans minister Keith Brown also announced Standard Life had contributed £240,000 to the fund.

“Veterans are an asset to our society and deserve the highest level of advice, support and care,” he said.

“The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that no member of the armed forces, service family member or veteran in Scotland faces disadvantage when accessing services and support.

“We are aware, however, of the difficulties faced by a small number of veterans in accessing some services and are committed to tackling this head on.

“The Scottish Veterans Fund supports a wide range of projects aimed at doing just that.”

Established in 2008, the fund has invested more than £830,000 and supported 125 projects that provide advice, help and support to the thousands of veterans leaving the armed forces, ranging from employability and housing support to befriending and wellbeing projects, making a vital difference to people’s lives.

The Scottish Veterans Commissioner will head up a new independent panel to examine bids.

Colonel Martin Gibson, executive chairman of Veterans Scotland, said: “We welcome the continued support to ex-service charities and other organisations from the Scottish Veterans Fund and we recognise the benefits that such grants can bring for individuals.

“The potential to have funding over a two to three year period means that a number of initiatives will be able to become well established and make a real difference to those, comparatively few, veterans who really need support."

Applications forms are available from the Veterans Scotland website. Deadline for submission is 20 January 2017.