Recognise ‘Veteran’ as a protected characteristic in law.

Make ‘Veteran’ a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010 to help ensure veterans aren't disadvantaged and that Armed Forces Covenant objectives are consistently applied. Require organisations to enable recording of veteran status with safeguards and prevent discrimination or disadvantage.

Last fetched 03 May 2026 · petition.parliament.uk

Signatures

7,689

signatures

Government response threshold (10,000) · 7,689/10,000

Debate threshold (100,000) · 7,689/100,000

Background

We are concerned that, without a clear legal duty to recognise and act on veteran status, avoidable disadvantage may continue across healthcare, housing, employment and the justice system. The Armed Forces Covenant sets important expectations, but without Equality Act protection there is not the same legal compulsion on public bodies and other organisations as exists for recognised protected characteristics. We believe recognising ‘Veteran’ as a protected characteristic would strengthen early intervention, fair treatment and better outcomes, in line with the aims of the Equality Act 2010.
 
For the purposes of this petition, ‘veteran’ is defined in line with the UK Government definition: anyone who has served at least one day in the UK Armed Forces (Regular or Reserve).