Housing People, Building Communities
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 Housing People, Building Communities 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 Housing People, Building Communities 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
- UK Reservists
- UK Cadets
- Armed Forces Day
- Reserve Forces Day
We also pledge the following:
· Promoting the Armed Forces: promoting the fact that we are an Armed Forces-friendly organisa-tion, to our staff, customers, suppliers, contractors and wider public. · Providing opportunities for veterans, service personnel, their spouses and partners and cadets to work with Housing People, Building Communities to help build affordable homes alongside a variety of others volunteers and the home partners themselves while contributing to the building of loving and supportive communities. · Veterans: supporting the participation of veterans, recognising military skills and qualifications in vol-unteering, training and potential home partner status; working with the relevant organisations and support services to involve Service leavers; · Service Spouses & Partners: supporting the volunteering, training opportunities and potential home partner status of Service spouses and partners; · Reserves: supporting our employees who are members of the Reserve Forces; · Cadet Organisations: recognising the benefits of giving cadets/ex-cadets opportunities to learn both skills and the benefit of interaction with a variety of professions and individuals from diverse back-grounds within the workforce and the charitys networks. · National Events: acknowledging and respecting the contributions of the military in supporting Armed Forces Day, Reserves Day, the Poppy Appeal Day and Remembrance activities through our partner-ship with armed forces veterans organisations such as breakfast clubs.
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.