Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
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 Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council 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 Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council 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
We also pledge the following:
. By having a dedicated councillor as an Armed Forces Champion . Raising awareness of the armed services and the contribution that they make locally and nationally, including through events such as the Remembrance Sunday commemorations. o Recognising the huge commitment and contribution that the Armed Forces community has made to Sefton as well as the Council itself. Many veterans, reservist and family members of veterans and serving personnel work for the Council. We are keen to recognise this contribution, but also to understand the issues that veterans, reservist, and family members face. o To continue to commission ‘Veterans in Sefton’ to deliver services to support veterans to secure accommodation and to provide support services for these clients to sustain their accommodation. . To continue to work with the Cheshire & Merseyside suicide prevention strategy in developing local action plans to complement this. The strategy recognises veterans as an identified risk group. Sefton is undergoing a review of localised plans to complement the Cheshire and Merseyside strategy in the next quarter where military veterans will be included within a range of other demographics who we know may be more at risk of suicidality. Public health chair the suicide prevention steering group for Sefton where this agenda is operationalised. o lnvest Sefton will provide advice and support for those who may be looking to start or grow a business. . Fully support the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority which is due to meet and agree to strengthen LCR’s commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, namely: o Resume annual review process, sharing and celebrating best practice in each local authority. o Provide in principle agreement for all seven authorities to seek gold award status within the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme o Establish an LCR local government employee network group for members of the Armed Forces community. o Develop a common approach to collecting data related to the Armed Forces community that supports implementation of the Covenant Duty. . We will establish data collection process relating to Service personnel employees and their family and to record this on our HR system. This data will assist the Council to achieve the commitments detailed above. o We will publicise these commitments and the support we can provide through our literature and/or on our website.
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.