Standard Life continues covenant support
Standard Life has announced today that it is upgrading its special leave policy to support partners and spouses of service personnel.
![Standard Life signing the corporate covenant [Picture: Standard Life]](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/image_data/file/20393/s300_Standard_Life_Mark_Francois_visit_3_181213g.jpg)
Standard Life signing the corporate covenant
As part of its ongoing commitment to support the armed forces through the corporate covenant, from 1 January 2014 the company will offer up to 5 days’ additional paid leave.
They will also allow temporary changes to working patterns for spouses and partners of service personnel deployed overseas.
Today’s announcement coincides with the publication of the armed forces covenant annual report earlier this week which highlights that the government will invest £65 million into various life-changing armed forces covenant projects over the course of this financial year.
As well as providing extra funding for the armed forces community, the covenant encourages all businesses to show their support for service personnel, their families and veterans through the armed forces corporate covenant.
Standard Life officially signed the corporate covenant in October this year, formally committing to supporting armed forces personnel in the workplace.
Chief Executive Officer David Nish and Group Operations Officer Sandy Begbie met with the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Mark Francois, today to discuss Standard Life’s future plans to support the armed forces during his visit to the group’s headquarters in Edinburgh.
Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois visiting Standard Life [Picture: Standard Life]
Mr Francois said:
Our armed forces and their families reflect what is best in society, so it is only right that everyone, including businesses, recognise their tremendous contribution and sacrifice.
I am extremely pleased that Standard Life have shown their support for the armed forces by signing up to the corporate covenant and for making this additional commitment today.
Standard Life is working hard to ensure all members of the armed forces community are fully supported in the workplace, and I hope that many other companies across the UK will be spurred on to get behind the corporate covenant and support our armed forces in any way they can.
Sandy Begbie said:
Standard Life has been supporting armed forces personnel for some time and the upgraded special leave policy is a natural step forward for our business.
We want to accommodate the specific needs of our reservists and ex-service personnel wherever possible, such as accommodating training and deployment of reserves and staff who volunteer for local cadet units.
Signing the corporate covenant makes sense for us, as it builds on our previous initiatives to support the armed forces.
MoneyForce has been a huge success and we want to build on that to further benefit the armed forces and our own services staff.
As part of the armed forces covenant the Standard Life Charitable Trust has also funded the MoneyForce programme, a joint initiative with the Royal British Legion and the Ministry of Defence.
This includes training for service personnel and the MoneyForce website, which aims to assist all service personnel, their partners, families and dependants to be better equipped to manage their money and financial affairs.
Service personnel receive comprehensive financial guidance during their career. Standard Life has also previously provided funding to SkillForce.
They are a charity which runs a programme that allows service personnel to work with schools to develop children’s teamworking abilities and confidence and find work.