Yeovil Chamber of Trade & Commerce
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 Yeovil Chamber of Trade & Commerce 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 Yeovil Chamber of Trade & Commerce 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
- Armed Forces Day
- Discounts
- Armed Forces Charities
We also pledge the following:
promoting the fact that we are an armed forces-friendly organisation by; o promoting our work, activities and events via our own digital and social media channels, as well as working with the press; o publishing our Covenant pledge on a dedicated Covenant page on our own website. seeking to support and promote the employment of Veterans of all ages within our member businesses by; o working with member businesses which are advertising vacancies, via our own digital and social media channels, to maximise employment opportunities to Veterans striving to support the employment of Service spouses and partners by; o working with member businesses which are advertising vacancies, via our own digital and social media channels, to maximise employment opportunities to Spouses and Partners Seeking to support all Armed Forces personnel (serving, active, Veterans and their spouses and partners) by: o encouraging our member businesses to offer discounted services and special offers to serving Armed Forces personnel and their spouses and partners aiming to actively participate in Armed Forces Day; o By becoming an AFD partner, and; o (in advance) by promoting AFD via our own digital and social media channels; o (during) by encouraging member businesses to take part in Reserve Forces Day, Uniform to Work Day and any flag-raising ceremonies; promoting case studies and stories, and working with the Wessex RFCA to bring them to press; o (post) by publishing stories from our member businesses, via our own digital and social media channels, as well as working with the RCFA Communication lead and the press. Additional commitments o Encourage and support fund-raising for service charities amongst our member businesses
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.