Businesses urged to support armed forces community in Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire

A message from Mick Harrison, Chairman of the Staffordshire Armed Forces Community Covenant Partnership:

I represent the Staffordshire Armed Forces Community Covenant – a partnership of public organisations, charities and our local Armed Forces Community based in Staffordshire.

Following Armed Forces Day celebrations and commemorations of the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme which have very recently taken place across the country, we are encouraging businesses to pledge their support to our very own Armed Forces Community here in the county.

As a business you can support the Armed Forces Community through a number of means.  You can show long-term commitment by signing a Corporate Covenant, a written and publicised voluntary pledge made between the armed forces and businesses for the mutual benefit of both organisations.  There are a number of options in which you can pledge your support, ranging from ensuring your employment policies support veterans, reservists and forces’ families, offering discounts for services/products through the Defence Discount Service or by simply supporting Armed Forces Day every June.  Each business can tailor its own pledge to offer the support it wants to provide, and each pledge can be unique.

By pledging your own type of support to our Armed Forces Community, as a business you could directly benefit from:

–          Marketing of ‘Forces friendly’ business. A unique selling point for many organisations.

–          Offer services directly to Armed Forces families and veterans residing in Staffordshire.

–          Access to recruitment of ex-military and current Reserve soldiers, sailors and airmen (many of whom receive over £9,000 worth of training per year from the military)

–          Invitations to local military events including network opportunities, air displays etc

–          Access to Army Reserve ‘Challenge’ (Leadership and task solving training – free for Covenant signatories)

–          And much more!

There are a number of businesses in Staffordshire which have already signed a Corporate Covenant. To view a list of these businesses along with the pledges they have made to our Armed Forces Community please click here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/search-for-businesses-who-have-signed-the-armed-forces-covenant.

If you would like to discuss further or request any further information, please contact Amanda Dawson (amanda.dawson@staffordshire.gov.uk) or click on the following link https://www.armedforcescovenant.gov.uk/.

Picture caption: Staffordshire County Council backs the Corporate Covenant