Servol Community Services
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 Servol Community Services 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 Servol Community Services 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 Charities
- UK Wounded, Injured And Sick
We also pledge the following:
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Supporting and promoting the mental wellbeing of the Armed Forces Community is central to our organisational purpose. We will ensure that our support workers are trained to understand the specific challenges faced by veterans and former Service personnel including the impact of combat related trauma, the difficulties of transitioning to civilian life and the stigma that can prevent veterans from seeking help.
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We maintain active working relationships with NHS mental health teams and are familiar with the Op COURAGE Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service as both a referral source and a co-working partner. We apply no policy or practice that would disadvantage a veteran or military family member in accessing our services. Our referral criteria focus on support need without regard to background and we actively welcome referrals from veterans’ charities and support organisations where our services represent an appropriate match for the individual concerned.
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Servol Community Services is committed to being a forces friendly employer. We recognise that military training, qualifications and experience are not always straightforward to translate onto a standard application form, and we will ensure that our recruitment panels understand how to assess military experience fairly and with confidence.
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We offer a guaranteed interview to any veteran or former Service person who meets the minimum criteria for a vacancy with our organisation. Many of the qualities developed through military service including the ability to work under pressure, clear communication, reliability and a commitment to the welfare of others are qualities we actively seek in our support staff and we value them accordingly. We are a reservist friendly employer. We commit to granting additional unpaid leave for annual training and where operationally possible for mobilisation. We will not place any employee at a disadvantage in their career development, performance review or day to day management as a result of their Reserve service commitments.
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We recognise that the partners and family members of serving personnel carry their own pressures, particularly during periods of deployment. We commit to being flexible in our approach to working arrangements for military spouses and partners where this is practicable and we will ensure they have access to our Employee Assistance Programme. We will not create any policy or procedure that disadvantages a person by reason of their relationship to a member of the Armed Forces Community.
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The commitments set out in this document are informed by direct and genuine experience. This is an area where Servol Community Services is able to speak from practice rather than intention alone. Veterans and former Service personnel are significantly overrepresented among people experiencing serious mental illness and housing need in England. Servol Community Services has provided supported accommodation to veteran service users and has received referrals from NHS mental health teams including referrals made specifically for veteran individuals requiring stable housing alongside specialist mental health support.
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This experience has shaped our understanding of the challenges that veterans can face when accessing services. We know that the transition from military to civilian life can be profoundly disorienting. We know that the culture of resilience and self-sufficiency that serves personnel well in service can make it harder to ask for help in civilian life. We know that distance from family networks and the loss of the structure and identity that military service provides can compound mental health difficulties significantly.
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It is this knowledge that makes our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant meaningful. We are not making a pledge in the abstract. We are making a commitment grounded in the real experiences of real people we have supported and will continue to support.
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Servol Community Services intends to apply for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Bronze Award within twelve months of signing this Covenant. The Bronze Award recognises employers who have pledged support for the Armed Forces Community and aligned their human resources policies accordingly.
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We view the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme not simply as a mark of recognition but as a genuine framework for improving our practices as an employer and as a service provider. We will work towards the Silver Award as our policies and our track record develop over time. We are also committed to contributing to national sector forums and conversations that have relevance to the Armed Forces Community. This includes maintaining our working relationships with Op COURAGE and NHS veteran mental health pathways and ensuring that Servol remains a visible and trusted option for veterans in need of housing and support.
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We will publicise our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant through our literature and on our website, setting out clearly how we seek to honour these commitments and inviting feedback from our service users, staff and partners on how well we are doing so. We will review our progress against this Covenant annually. Our annual review will be presented to the Board of Trustees, and a summary will be published on our website. Where we identify areas in which our performance falls short of our commitments, we will set out clearly what action we will take to improve.
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We will include our Armed Forces Covenant commitments in our staff induction programme and ongoing training so that all employees understand what those commitments mean in practice for the people they work with and the colleagues they work alongside.
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A named lead for Armed Forces Covenant commitments will be identified within the Senior Leadership Team.
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Progress against this Covenant will be reported to the Board of Trustees as part of our annual review cycle.
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We will encourage all relevant supply chain partners and subcontractors to consider making their own commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant.
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We will maintain a record of the steps we have taken to fulfil these commitments and make that record available to the Ministry of Justice and other stakeholders on request.
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.