The variety of army veterans claiming advantages to deal with ­rising prices is hovering.

There are 50,000 former armed forces personnel receiving Universal Credit – up by 17,000 in a 12 months, based on a examine of presidency figures.

And the variety of lively personnel ­claiming assist has elevated to three,800 this April, up from 2,500 a 12 months earlier.

Labour prompt the variety of veterans claiming Universal Credit has elevated by 50 % over the previous 12 months.

But there are fears the true quantity may very well be even larger, as employment minister Guy Opperman admitted the statistics cowl solely 63 % of the Universal Credit caseload.

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This means as much as about 80,000 may very well be on advantages. Former defence minister Alec Shelbrooke mentioned: “The state has a bigger responsibility to those who signed up.

“People in the armed forces have unique circumstances compared to the rest of the civilian population.”

Veterans minister Johnny Mercer beforehand mentioned former personnel had suffered years of underinvestment.

He introduced an inquiry to look into the help given to them.