The Institute of Chartered Foresters commits to uphold the Armed Forces Covenant and support the Armed Forces Community. We recognise the contribution that service personnel, both regular and reservist, veterans and military families make to our organisation, our community and to the country.
What is the Armed Forces Covenant?
The Armed Forces Covenant is a pledge that together we acknowledge and understand that those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities, economy and society they serve with their lives.
Its two principles are that, recognising the unique obligations of, and sacrifices made by, the Armed Forces:
- 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.
Section 1: Principles of The Armed Forces Covenant
1.1 We, the Institute of Chartered Foresters, will endeavour to uphold the key principles of the Armed Forces Covenant:
- Members of the Armed Forces Community should not face disadvantages arising from their service in the provision of public and commercial services.
- In some circumstances special provision may be justified, especially for those who have given the most, such as the injured or bereaved.
Section 2: Demonstrating our Commitment
2.1 The Institute of Chartered Foresters recognise the contribution that Service personnel, reservists, veterans, and military families make to our organisation, our community and to the country. We will seek to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant by:
Promoting the Armed Forces:
Promoting the fact that we are an armed forces-friendly organisation.
Employment support to members of the Armed Forces Community:
- Seeking to support the employment of veterans young and old and working with Career Transition Partnership (CTP), in order to establish a tailored employment pathway for Service Leaver.
- Seeking to support our employees who choose to be members of the Reserve forces, including by accommodating their training and deployment where possible.
- Provide a buddying scheme for transitioning Service Personnel.
- Encourage our members to offer work placements, insight days, mentoring schemes and/or guaranteed interview schemes to Veterans seeking employment.
- Support the employment of Service spouses, partners and dependants, by signing up to Forces Families Jobs; endeavouring to offer short-notice leave to those whose partners are sent on deployment; and working with the tri-Service Families Federations.
- Consider ways in which remote-working solutions might benefit the mobile Armed Forces Community, especially partners and spouses
Communications, engagement and outreach:
- Promote the Armed Forces Covenant, to our members
- Use the Covenant logos where appropriate in our communications and marketing.
- Create a dedicated Armed Forces page on our website
- Appoint an Armed Forces Champion within your organisation to act as a focal point for organising and promoting support for the Armed Forces Community.
- Signpost members of the Armed Forces Community to available support, for example from Cobseo, the Veterans’ Gateway or statutory services in your area.
- Set up a support network for our members who are veterans.
- Develop relationships and work collaboratively with other organisations supporting the Covenant and the Armed Forces Community in your locality/region.
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 Armed Forces Community and our members on how we are doing.
Find out more at armedforcescovenant.gov.uk
