Armed Forces Covenant

What is the Armed Forces Covenant?

The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise from the nation that those who serve or have served, and their families, are treated fairly and not disadvantaged in their day to day lives.

The purpose of the Trafford Armed Forces Covenant is to encourage support for the Armed Forces community working and residing in Trafford. It is also there to recognise and remember the sacrifices made by members of this Armed Forces Community, particularly those who have given the most. This includes in-Service and ex-Service personnel their families and the bereaved in Trafford.

It presents an opportunity to build upon existing good work and other initiatives such as being part of the Combined GM Covenant Group. You can find out more by visiting the Greater Manchester Armed Forces Covenant website.

For Trafford Council, the Covenant provides an opportunity to bring forward our knowledge, expertise and experience to help and advise members of the Armed Forces Community. It also gives us the opportunity to build upon the existing good work taking place across Trafford by local businesses and organisations.

For the Armed Forces Community, the Covenant can help with the integration back into civilian life, housing, employment and health issues, for both the service member and their families.

Who can sign a Covenant?

Business, charities and other private sector organisations.

A Covenant can be adopted by a business or charitable organisation of any size, and from any industry, whether you are an employer of a member of the armed forces community or simply wish to acknowledge publicly your support for the Armed Forces.

Each organisation will be encouraged to offer support in a way most appropriate to their situation and capacity.

For example, a larger organisations may wish to actively seek to employ serving reservist personnel for the skills they possess, or strive to support the employment of ex-regular personnel and service spouses.

Aims of the Covenant

The Covenant aims to encourage all parties within a community to offer support and make it easier for service personnel, families and veterans to access the help and support available from a wide range of providers.

How does it work in Trafford?

As part of our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, Trafford Council established an Armed Forces Covenant Partnership; this is a group of partners including the Military who meet on a regular basis to co-ordinate and implement the support for the Armed Forces across Trafford.

The Partnership is open to any national Armed Forces Charity, any member of the Greater Manchester Armed Forces Group and any Trafford based Armed Forces organisations, or groups who work with Armed Forces Community. We meet to share best practice and joint working, the Partnership aims to be inclusive and offer support to the Armed Forces Community and those organisations working with them. Any discussions about joint working projects are welcome.

The partnership meetings continue virtually during the Covid pandemic, if you would like to be invited please contact sue.wright@trafford.gov.uk Armed Forces Lead.

Trafford Council receives the Covenant Gold Award

In November 2019 Trafford Council was proud and delighted to be awarded Gold for their Armed Forces Covenant. The award is formal recognition of the work Trafford Council undertakes to demonstrate support for the Armed Forces Community both in Trafford and across Greater Manchester.

A regional selection board chaired by senior military officers consider each nomination for an award against the criteria; we were formally notified we had been successful on our first attempt at gold in September 2019. Collecting the award at an event in London in November 2019.

Employment Support in Trafford

A new initiative for Trafford Council in 2020 is our ‘guaranteed interview scheme’, any veteran or current service member is guaranteed an interview for a Trafford Council local authority vacancy if they meet the minimum advertised criteria for that role. We can help by providing access to our weekly jobs bulletin and in other cases offer work experience, and by signposting to other employment providers.

Further Information

For further information on the support available in Trafford or the
Armed Forces Covenant, please contact the Armed Forces Lead, Sue Wright on: partnershipsteam@trafford.gov.uk