Ministry of Defence
The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise from the nation, ensuring that those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, are treated fairly. The Covenant is a national responsibility and the Government is committed to delivering the best possible outcomes for the Armed Forces community by working with a range of delivery partners including businesses, local authorities, charities and the public.
Businesses and local authorities who wish to support the Armed Forces community can sign the Covenant, and publicly declare their commitments.
The new branding simplifies and clarifies the Armed Forces Covenant, uniting all the delivery partners in their common goal to achieve the best outcomes for the Armed Forces community.
Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans, Mark Lancaster, said:
The new Armed Forces Covenant brand gives us a clear visual identity, encapsulating what it stands for. It gives all the supporters a simple way to show what their commitments of support stand for, and I hope they will be as keen to get people talking about this as I am.
Armed Forces personnel and their families make many sacrifices through their service to keep Britain safe. They can face challenges accessing commercial and public services that we take for granted, so the Armed Forces Covenant is a promise from the nation to ensure that the Armed Forces community is treated fairly, and recognise their particular challenges.
Key Armed Forces Covenant achievements include:
Family Healthcare:
- The Armed Forces Covenant is now at the centre of the NHS constitution, an important step for the delivery of local health care. Now 81% of Service personnel report good access to medical care and 98% of Armed Forces families have good access to GPs.
- 2m grant awarded to create a NHS Specialist Rehabilitation Unit.
Childrens education:
- Children of personnel can now get school places before moving into an area, following an amendment to the Schools Admission Code
- 21m of Service Pupil Premium payments made to support the pastoral needs of over 60,000 Service pupils in state schools.
- 24,500 children from Service families have benefitted from 154 grants for Education Support Funding to help schools mitigate and manage issues caused by Service families moving as a result of deployment.
Spousal employment:
- Spouses returning from overseas can now immediately claim Jobseekers Allowance, as they have been made exempt from the need to be a UK resident for three months in order to claim.
- More than 400 spouses of Armed Forces personnel now to be offered 1,000 grants for training and education.
Commercial Disadvantage:
- Mobile phone providers Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three will now allow Service personnel and their families to suspend phone contracts whilst on overseas deployment, so that they are not required to pay for services that they are not using.
- A credit union has been set up to provide personnel with safe, affordable loans.
- In 2015, more than 5,200 Service personnel have been helped on to the property ladder through the on going Forces Help To Buy scheme