Construction Skills College
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, His 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 Construction Skills College 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 Construction Skills College 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:
- Armed Forces Friendly
- UK Service Veterans And Leavers
- UK Service Spouses And Partners
- Flexible Leave For Spouses
- UK Reservists
- UK Cadets
- Armed Forces Day
- Reserve Forces Day
- Discounts
- Armed Forces Charities
- Additional Leave For Reservists
We also pledge the following:
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Supporting any mobilisations.
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Creation of a Reserves Forces policy.
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Engaging with the Career Transition Partnership.
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Considering ways in which remote-working solutions might benefit the mobile nature of the Armed Forces community.
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Engage with any local Armed Forces (Regular or Reserve) presence – for example, local Army units, RAF stations and/or Naval bases.
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Provide ways for our staff to learn about the Armed Forces community.
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Create a dedicated Armed Forces community section on our website.
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Appoint an Armed Forces lead within our organisation to coordinate support for the Armed Forces community.
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Signpost members of the Armed Forces community to available support, for example from Cobseo members, the Office for Veterans’ Affairs directory of support and statutory services in your area.
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Deliver or promote external events for veterans and other members of the Armed Forces community.
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Develop relationships and work collaboratively with other organisations supporting the Covenant and the Armed Forces community in our local area and/or our industry sector.
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Ensure the Armed Forces community has fair access to our services and is not put at a disadvantage due to their service, for example due to deployment or mobility.
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Promote training and further/higher education opportunities for Service leavers, veterans and their families.
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Organise, facilitate, promote and/or take part in remembrance and other ceremonial activities.
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Reduced-cost training for the Armed Forces community: We will offer reduced-cost construction training options to veterans and, where eligible under our Armed Forces support arrangements, spouses, partners and family members, including individuals who are unable to access or have already used their available learning credits.
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Flexibility where Service commitments disrupt training: Where a genuine Service requirement, including deployment, exercises or changes to leave or resettlement arrangements, prevents a learner from attending booked training, we will seek to rearrange affected training to suitable alternative available dates without imposing an administration or course-amendment charge, subject to course availability and any applicable funding, qualification and completion requirements.
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Construction careers and resettlement support: We will provide clear, practical and realistic advice to serving personnel, Service leavers, veterans and Armed Forces families who are considering construction training, helping them understand suitable training routes, career options and the transition into civilian employment or self-employment.
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Funding and official signposting: We will provide clear information about the construction training courses for which we are approved to accept Enhanced Learning Credits, where applicable, and will signpost learners to appropriate official sources, including ELCAS and the Career Transition Partnership, where questions about funding, eligibility, resettlement or wider transition support fall outside our authority.
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Armed Forces Champion: We will appoint an Armed Forces Champion to oversee our Covenant commitments, act as a point of contact for members of the Armed Forces Community and coordinate our ongoing support and engagement activities.
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We will review our Armed Forces Covenant commitments and associated support at least annually to identify opportunities for improvement and to ensure that our commitments remain relevant and effective.
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.