London South Bank University
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 London South Bank University 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 London South Bank University 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
We also pledge the following:
Promote the fact that LSBU is an Armed Forces friendly organisation to our staff members and to our stakeholders. Display the covenant logo in our University. Seek to support our employees who choose to be members of the Reserve Forces, including accommodating their training and deployment where possible. We will achieve this by granting, in addition to normal leave entitlement, 15 days with pay for employees who are required to attend military training and annual deployment exercises. Recognise military skills and qualifications when recruiting. Offer support to local cadet units, by encouraging employees to volunteer using their discretionary voluntary leave of up to 5 days. Endeavour to offer work experience and job shadowing opportunities for cadets at LSBU, managed through our Employability Service. Provide an internal staff and student network for those who fall into the scope of the Armed Forces Community including families and spouses. Aiming to promote Armed Forces Week to employees and students through communications, events and encourage members of the Reserve Forces to wear their uniform on Armed Forces and Reservist Day. Invite representatives of the Armed Forces Community to Careers and Recruitment Fairs and events for employees and students such as Women’s Day and wellbeing events. - Hold a remembrance service annually on Armistice Day to honour members of the Armed Forces, who have died in the line of duty. Provide sports facilities through our academy of Sport by offering discounted health assessments, gym membership and referrals to The British School of Ostepathy for the armed Forces Community including families and spouses, employees, students and residents from the Boroughs of Southwark, Lambeth and Lewisham. Provide discounted junior membership for cadets to our Academy of Sport. Support Armed Forces Community charities through events during Raising and Giving (RAG) week and Armed Forces Week. Aid Armed Forces recruitment efforts by matching Armed Forces employment gaps to current LSBU undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, through recruitment events managed by the Employability Service. Endeavour to work with the Armed FOrces Community to offer teaching opportunities to our students across multiple disciplines and build on the work currently undertaken through our Occupational Health and Workplace Health Degrees. Our PVC is a member of the University of London Military Education Committee and will be fully engaged in their activities to service as a single point of contact to represent the view of MECs to the MOD and as a channel of information between the universities and the MOD. We will work closely with military family whose children attend LSBU’s associated FE colleges, local schools, sixth forms and University Technical College Years 10-12 to ensure we are providing them preferential access opportunities to Higher Education. We will honour Enhanced Learning Credits (ELCs_ across a range of LSBY courses. LSBU will commit to support the Armed Forces Community including Cadets, Spouses and families with developing their enterprise skills either through access to our internal entrepreneurship events or through our wider external enterprise partners including European funded initiatives.
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.