1.  Early Service Leavers are most vulnerable to social exclusion, yet the majority of the Department's resettlement support is directed at those with longer service histories. The Department sees resettlement support as a reward for service and as an aid to retention, but many longer-serving Service Leavers will secure civilian employment and accommodation without any assistance. The Department should develop and introduce additional targeted measures for Early Service Leavers and others in most need. It should do this on the basis of better evidence on the effectiveness of its existing assistance.

2.  First line resettlement support is weak and poorly monitored within the Army even though it is the principal assistance for Early Service Leavers and crucial for other Service Leavers to get through to further resettlement activities. The Department should instigate its planned improvements to training for first line resettlement staff and for better quality assurance measures, and seek feedback from Service Leavers to assess whether performance has improved by the end of the year.

3.  The Department has reduced the number of forms Service Leavers must complete to obtain the resettlement support to which they are entitled but the system needs to be streamlined further. The Department should look at the process from the point of view of Service Leavers, particularly those with lower educational attainment who have been heavily reliant on administrative support throughout their service careers, with the aim of reducing bureaucracy to the absolute minimum.

4.  Some Commanding Officers have not made it easy for Service Leavers to attend resettlement in a timely fashion. The demands of frontline operations, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other military tasks, are vital, but prioritising them to the exclusion of other planning has prevented or delayed some Service Leavers in starting their resettlement. Notwithstanding operational demands, the Department should require Commanding Officers to give resettlement due priority and management attention. It should determine a reasonable length of time for Service Leavers to spend in the United Kingdom at the end of their career, taking into account current operational commitments for particular branches, and ensure that all Service Leavers get the necessary time for resettlement. The Department should also require first line staff to encourage individuals to draw up realistic resettlement plans, taking into account likely deployments up to two years ahead of departure dates.

5.  Attendance at Career Transition Partnership is very high across the board but within some groups such as junior ranks, the percentage is lower, as are satisfaction levels. The Department should identify why other ranks have lower attendance at Career Transition Partnership and why other ranks are less satisfied with some courses than officers.

6.  Unemployment is significantly higher among Early Service Leavers than among other Service Leavers. The Department believes much of the problem lies with those Army trainees who have failed basic training and came into the Army with poor basic skills and few qualifications, and would in any case struggle to gain employment. It also thinks that many Early Service Leavers may have returned to full time education. The Department has been working with the Department for Work and Pensions to try to identify the full extent of the problem of unemployment amongst Early Service Leavers. The Department should determine more accurately the numbers that remain unemployed six months after discharge. It should also identify the risk factors due to the individual's background and service experience, and decide if it can to do more to support those most likely to be unemployed.

7.  A minority of Service Leavers do not have accommodation when they leave but have experienced difficulty in getting some local authorities to accept their responsibilities to assist them in finding housing. Part of the problem relates to the lack of a "local connection" to the area where the Service Leaver had served but, in other cases, local authorities were simply reluctant to assist Service Leavers without them being evicted from Service housing. The Department should work with the Department for Communities and Local Government to identify which local authorities insist that Service Leavers are evicted, and then enforce the guidance forbidding such practices. It should also estimate the likely pattern of demand on local authorities following the granting of local connection to identify where problems may emerge, and project this analysis forward to the introduction of 'super garrisons'.

8.  The Department provides good support to serving personnel looking to buy their own home, and to single Service Leavers who need accommodation on discharge, but the take up of these services is low. The Department should refer more of its single Service Leavers to the services provided by the Single Persons Accommodation Centre for the Ex-Services (SPACES), especially those whom it has identified as most vulnerable to social exclusion. The Department should do more to encourage home ownership earlier in the careers of serving personnel or prior to discharge by:

• further raising of awareness among Service Leavers and serving personnel through advertising the Department's housing briefings;
• training the first line to encourage personnel to consider their future housing needs;
• monitoring the impact of the schemes introduced to promote home ownership and considering expanding the use of Long Service Advance of Pay to include buy to let properties; and
• exploring with the financial sector possible saving schemes which could help Service personnel to build up enough savings to get on the property ladder at the end of their career.

9.  The Department has introduced new provision for the mental health support of veterans suffering as a result of active service on operations but has done little to advertise the provision to veterans. The Department should do more to raise awareness of the new provision and to remind veterans of the support available. It should monitor take-up of assessment from St Thomas' available from November 2007, and of the additional guidance and support provided to GPs. The Department should also strengthen its screening for potential risk of mental health problems when Service Leavers have their final medical, and should use this opportunity to alert Service Leavers to the support available to them following discharge.