Our Armed Forces Covenant Pledge

We recognise the value that serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families bring to our business and to our country. We will seek to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, by:

• Promoting the Armed Forces: promoting the fact that we are an Armed Forces-friendly organisation, to our staff, customers, suppliers, contractors and wider public. 

• Veterans: supporting the employment of veterans, recognising military skills and qualifications in our recruitment and selection process; working with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) to support the employment of Service leavers;

• Service Spouses & Partners: supporting the employment of Service spouses and partners;  partnering with the Forces Families Jobs Forum (https://www.forcesfamiliesjobs.co.uk/); and providing flexibility in granting leave for Service spouses and partners before, during and after a partner’s deployment.

 

• Reserves: supporting our employees who are members of the Reserve Forces; granting additional paid/unpaid leave for annual Reserve Forces training; supporting any mobilisations and deployment; actively encouraging members of staff to become Reservists;

• Cadet Organisations: supporting our employees who are volunteer leaders in military cadet organisations, granting additional leave to attend annual training camps and courses; actively encouraging members of staff to become volunteer leaders in cadet organisations; supporting local military cadet units; recognising the benefits of employing cadets/ex-cadets within the workforce. Offer insight days to older cadets, looking for further education and/or apprenticeship.

• National Events: supporting Armed Forces Day, Reserves Day, the Poppy Appeal Day and Remembrance activities;

• Armed Forces Charities: supporting Armed Forces charities with fundraising and supporting staff who volunteer to assist;

• Commercial Support: offering a discount to members of the Armed Forces community. Register with DDS to offer discounts to any armed forces related charity or events.

• Work with relevant charities and career transition partnership to offer work opportunities with the wounded, sick and injured veterans and serving personnel.

• Remote Working: consider remote working for mobile armed force’s personnel especially partners and spouses.