Funds are provided through the War Pensions Scheme's discretionary power to meet the cost of any necessary expenses in respect of medical, surgical or rehabilitative treatment of ex-members of the armed forces that arise from a disablement due to service before 6 April 2005 where it is not provided for under other UK legislation. This includes the individual costs of war pensioners undergoing remedial treatment at homes run by Combat Stress for conditions related to their individual pensioned disablement and of related expenses such as travel costs. Combat Stress receives separate funding from the Scottish Executive for war pensioners' resident in Scotland who receive treatment at Hollybush House.
The following table shows the funding received by Combat Stress to defray individual treatment expenses under the War Pensions Scheme for the past eight years.
Funding (£ million) 2001-02 1.2 2002-03 1.5 2003-04 1.6 2004-05 2.0 2005-06 2.3 2006-07 2.5 2007-08 3.2 2008-09 3.5
Funding figures for the previous two years and a complete breakdown of the number of war pensioners treated at each centre could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, in order to give some indication of the numbers of war pensioners receiving treatment, we can state that in financial year 2007-08 some 1,200 individuals, funded through the auspices of the War Pensions Scheme, were treated at the three Combat Stress sites.