The Foreign Office has published a new guide which contains full details of how the Foreign Office can provide support to British nationals when things go wrong abroad.
The new publication, called Support for British nationals abroad: A guide contains for the first time a written Customer Charter which sets out the Foreign Office’s commitment to providing a high level of service. The guide also provides:
- clearer and updated information for those affected by a crisis abroad
- clearer information on how the FCO can assist people with mental health problems
- clearer explanations of why the FCO cannot help in certain situations
The Foreign Office has also launched new support and assistance measures for families of people who have died in suspicious circumstances overseas. Nearly 6,000 British nationals die abroad each year and around 60 of those are the victims of a murder or manslaughter.
The Foreign Office is working in partnership with the Victim Support National Homicide Service to ensure that families get the practical support they need to deal with the added trauma, complications and costs when a British national is murdered abroad.
To help families cover the exceptional and additional costs if a murder occurs overseas, the Foreign Office is providing a £100,000 grant to Victim Support to commission services on behalf of bereaved families, if needed. This will enable them to expand the range of services they can provide to bereaved families such as travel costs, translation and interpreting services and repatriation costs.
Minister for Consular Affairs Jeremy Browne said:
“Dealing with the death of a family member who has been murdered abroad can be an extremely traumatic experience. I have met the families of victims and decided that the FCO could improve its service to help people in these terrible circumstances. I am pleased to announce that we are now providing more practical and emotional support for families bereaved by a murder abroad and are working closely with the Victim Support’s National Homicide Service to improve the assistance available.”
