Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service
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 Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service 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 Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service 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
- Armed Forces Day
- Reserve Forces Day
We also pledge the following:
- Promoting the fact that we are an armed-forces friendly organisation, to our employees, customers, suppliers, contractors and wider public through prominent use of the Armed Forces Covenant and Employer Recognition Scheme logos such as on our public facing website.
- Support and grow our Armed Forces Network Group (FireFORCES) to achieve its aims of bringing together, streamlining and shaping all strands of work within HIWFRS involving the armed forces communities both within the Service as well as our engagement within our communities. These include veterans, Reservists, cadet leaders and families of those serving in the armed forces.
- Via the FireFORCES network group, establish and maintain a network of Armed Forces Champions across the organisation who will act as a focal point for organising, developing and promoting support for the armed forces community.
- Maintaining a close relationship with our Regional Employer Engagement Director to ensure that we fully engage with the Armed Forces Covenant and the Employer Recognition Scheme.
- Actively ensuring that our workforce (employees and managers) are aware of our positive policies towards defence people issues to encourage a positive environment by internally publicising these policies such as our ‘Service in the Reserve Forces Procedure’ .
- Regularly reviewing our ‘Service in the Reserve Forces Procedure’ with the ambition to align it with the requirements of the Gold Employer Recognition Scheme and once aligned maintain this alignment.
- Maintaining a framework to enable us to best support our Reservists when they are required for military mobilisation and have supportive policies in place to facilitate mobilisation.
- Accommodating Reservist training commitments wherever possible.
- Giving due consideration to Reservist commitments during transfer and promotion opportunities to ensure that Reservists are not disadvantaged due to their Reservist status and commitments.
- Having a proactive forces-friendly recruiting and selection processes by engaging with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) in the recruitment of service leavers.
- Ensuring that employees that are service veterans have appropriate welfare support where required which considers their previous service where required. We will work closely with partner organisations/charities where appropriate to achieve this.
- Recognising the need to grant leave whenever possible before, at key points during, and after a spouse, partner or close family member is deployed, also understanding these can involve short notice changes.
- Using our policy for compassionate and emergency leave in the event of a bereavement or serious injury.
- Working closely with the South East Reserve Forces and Cadets Association (SE RFCA) to support the Cadet movement and Cadet Force Adult Volunteers.
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.
Updates to this page
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Re-signing of the Armed Forces Covenant with additional bespoke pledges.
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First published.