Action for Carers
We, the undersigned, commit to honour the Armed Forces Covenant and support the Armed Forces Community. We recognise the value Serving Personnel, both Regular and Reservists, Veterans and military families contribute to our business and our country.
The Armed Forces Covenant
An enduring covenant between the people of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty’s Government and all those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces of the Crown and their families
The first duty of Government is the defence of the realm. Our Armed Forces fulfil that responsibility on behalf of the Government, sacrificing some civilian freedoms, facing danger and, sometimes, suffering serious injury or death as a result of their duty. Families also play a vital role in supporting the operational effectiveness of our Armed Forces. In return, the whole nation has a moral obligation to the members of the Naval Service, the Army and the Royal Air Force, together with their families. They deserve our respect and support, and fair treatment.
Those who serve in the Armed Forces, whether Regular or Reserve, those who have served in the past, and their families, should face no disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial services. Special consideration is appropriate in some cases, especially for those who have given most such as the injured and the bereaved.
This obligation involves the whole of society: it includes voluntary and charitable bodies, private organisations, and the actions of individuals in supporting the Armed Forces. Recognising those who have performed military duty unites the country and demonstrates the value of their contribution. This has no greater expression than in upholding this Covenant.
Section 1: Principles of the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant
1.1 We Action for Carers will endeavour in our business dealings to uphold the key principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, which are:
- no member of the Armed Forces Community should face disadvantage in the provision of public and commercial services compared to any other citizen;
- and in some circumstances that special treatment may be appropriate especially for the injured or bereaved.
Section 2: Demonstrating our commitment
2.1 Action for Carers recognises the value serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families bring to our business. We will seek to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, by pledging to the following:
- UK Service Veterans And Leavers
- UK Service Spouses And Partners
- Flexible Leave For Spouses
- UK Reservists
- UK Cadets
- Armed Forces Day
- Discounts
- Armed Forces Charities
We also pledge the following:
-Any veteran or Armed Forces carers have access to free activities and offers which are made available to Action for Carers -Action for Carers actively promotes all staff to be involved in Armed Forces Day celebrations. The Armed Forces Coordinator attends both local and national events and also partnership works with local veteran and Armed Forces Community in organising Armed Forces Day celebrations -The Armed Forces Coordinator works alongside Surrey Young Carers in supporting any young carers who are cadets or in schools or the wider community -Our Leave policy recognises that employees are Reservists may have time off work for public duties -We have a generous holiday entitlement, which starts at 28 days plus bank holidays. This is 8 days over the statutory minimum. Our Leave provision Policy allows for staff to request extended unpaid leave. We also have a number of high quality, part time roles, over half our workforce work part-time, this allows flexibility to manage caring and family responsibilities -Action for Carers offers volunteer opportunities to carers to support them in gaining skills and confidence for returning to work. Our recruitment policies and practices promote equal opportunities. We also offer a number of well-paid,part-time job opportunities, which may be attractive to service spouses and partners. We have received the Carers Confident accreditation from Carers UK, which means that we have good working practices to recruit, support and retain employees with caring responsibilities. We have some ex service personnel in our team, and they feel that our culture and working practices are a good fit for them -Action for Carers offers volunteer opportunities to carers to support them in gaining skills and confidence for returning to work. We will look to engage with the Career Transition Partnership in the future. Once we receive our bronze membership, we will promote this on our recruitment page, in order to attract candidates the armed forces / armed forces families -Action for Carers employs an Armed Forces Co-ordinator who actively supports carers in the Armed Forces and veterans, trains Action for Carers staff as Armed Forces Champions and partnership works with other Armed Forces agencies
2.2 We will publicise these commitments through our literature and/or on our website, setting out how we will seek to honour them and inviting feedback from the Service community and our customers on how we are doing.