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The Army Benevolent Fund say that as many as 12,000 former Gurkhas may apply for UK residency in the next three years.

The forces' charity expect the new arrivals will need money and accommodation.

"They will arrive from an aircraft, they'll probably have two suitcases and no more. They're going to need everything to set up home," the charity's director of welfare Paul Cummings told the BBC.

It was "an issue of grave concern" that some of those arriving seemed to be so ill prepared for life in Britain, he said.

A dozen families had already approached his charity in the two weeks before Christmas, he added.

In May, all Gurkha veterans with a minimum four years' service won the right to settle in Britain after a high-profile legal battle led by actress Joanna Lumley.

The Ministry of Defence has since set up a resettlement office in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu to brief applicants about living in Britain, but Cummings said none of the Gurkhas he had so far seen had been to the centre.

"Having not been through any preparation in Nepal prior to arrival, they're coming here with no resources to back them up and no means of sustaining themselves," he said.

The Ministry of Defence claimed it was doing "a great deal to prepare former Gurkhas and their families for life in the UK."

In a statement the Ministry say that more than 2,000 people had attended the resettlement centre in Nepal and arrangements were in place in Britain to help bring the ex-soldiers into the welfare system.