Britain Promises Veterans Support. It Breaks Down When They Leave.

A 2026 report, After Service: The Hidden Costs of Britain's Military on its Veterans, documents a specific failure. The legal commitments made to service leavers exist. At the transition point, they break down. Ten percent of service leavers struggle to find employment in year one. A further fifteen percent need meaningful support in the first two years. In this episode of The Responsible Edge, host Charlie Martin speaks with Jim Holland, co-founder and CEO of Carma, a veteran-led climate action business that pairs corporate ESG investment with veteran employment pathways through tree planting and nature-based work. Jim served thirteen years as a Weapons Engineering Artificer in the Royal Navy. He left at thirty, returned to Barnsley, bought a town centre pub, and spent four difficult years working out what he had lost. "I hadn't realised that I was missing three things: my forces family, my purpose and my identity." He eventually built Carma to address the gap he had lived through, connecting corporate sustainability budgets to veteran employment outcomes through a mechanism that is commercially self-sustaining. The conversation covers why hiring managers misread veterans as threats rather than assets, why nature-based work changes people in ways office environments cannot, and why Jim believes climate action and social value are a price businesses have never had to pay, not a cost. "Companies that do it now are stealing the march," he says. "They're being pioneers, not reacting to legislation." The veteran support system has not closed its gap. The question the episode leaves open is whether the market can. If your work touches veteran employment, ESG investment, or corporate social value, this episode is worth your time. #VeteranEmployment #ClimateAction #ESG #TreePlanting #SocialValue #TheResponsibleEdge