MONARCH: Map of Need Aggregated Research Study

Map of Need Aggregated Research Study

Purpose and Context

The MONARCH (Map of Need Aggregated Research) project represents the UK's first consolidated dataset documenting the support needs and service use of military veterans and the Armed Forces Community across the charity sector. Developed by the Northern Hub for Veterans and Military Families' Research at Northumbria University, the MONARCH platform provides a greater understanding of veterans needs which can directly inform tailored service provision and increase understanding of those who may be at risk. In doing so, this could facilitate early intervention for the veteran community at need prior to crisis level.

Platform Development

The MONARCH platform brought together casework data from 10 Armed Forces charities (incl. SSAFA, ABF, RAFA & Combat Stress) through a five-phase structured development process. However, because of almonisation, which involves combining and standardising data across organisations, the dataset actually reflects support provided by an additional 173 organisations beyond those original 10.

Phase 1 - Stakeholder Consultation: Focus groups with 29 representatives from NHS England, NHS Wales, Armed Forces charities, and local government (October-December 2023) identified requirements for veteran identification, geospatial analysis capabilities, and an accessible interactive platform with user guidance.

Phase 2 - Data Sharing & Ingestion: Ten charities contributed data through formal data-sharing agreements with GDPR compliance. A secure upload portal was created allowing each charity to submit datasets via unique password-protected URLs directly into the SAS cloud environment .

Phase 3 – Data Cleaning & Anonymisation: A secure hashing algorithm anonymised identifying data whilst enabling cross-dataset linkage using service number, date of birth, and gender. An encryption salt ensured data could not be reverse engineered. Extensive data preparation (4-6 months) addressed inconsistencies in charity data collection protocols, including validation of service numbers, birth dates, and gender information, plus correction of misclassifications and incomplete postcode data in order to enable comparative analysis.

Phase 4 – Data Almonisation, Aggregation and Harmonisation: In military charities, the same individual is often supported by multiple charities for the same issues. To account for this, the process of data aggregation eliminated double counting across 173 organisations. A Data Strategy Working Group refined 280 different recorded needs into 51 distinct categories, mapped to 11 ‘All Party Parliamentary Group’ complex need criteria and the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) three health elements (physical health, mental health, social wellbeing).

Phase 5 - Data Visualisation: Built using SAS Viya (a platform already used by MoD and government departments), the interactive platform presents census data, veteran demographics, and needs analysis with dynamic filtering capabilities at local, regional, and national levels. Custom map files were created to address boundary
misalignments, with attention to colour-deficiency accessibility and screen-size responsiveness.

Platform Capabilities

The MONARCH platform enables policymakers, HM Government departments, charities, and the NHS (and others) to identify risk factors for early intervention, understand geographic variations in veteran needs and service provision, support evidence-based resource allocation and service planning, in order to prevent veterans reaching crisis point through proactive identification of emerging needs. The platform's aggregated dataset also enables advanced secondary analyses, with research teams already developing machine learning models to identify specific clusters of health and social care needs and AI predictive models for risk factor identification.

Initial Evaluation Results

A three-month prototype evaluation (July-September 2025) with 17 stakeholders revealed strong appreciation for multi-source data integration, geospatial analytical capability, and evidence generation for service planning. However, users identified concerns including missing NHS data contributions, accessibility issues (colour scheme problems for colour vision deficiency, screen reader incompatibility), and unclear terminology affecting non-specialist users.

Impact and Future Direction

MONARCH presents a model for a potential transformative shift from reactive to proactive veteran support, providing the very first unified view of how UK veterans access charity services. The platform supports the NHS 10-year plan's emphasis on early intervention and crisis prevention whilst creating infrastructure for ongoing secondary research to refine understanding of veteran needs and improve service delivery across the entire support ecosystem.