Helpline Sign Armed Forces Covenent Pledging Continued Support

 

To show exactly how seriously Helpline take their commitment to the armed forces, we've proudly signed the Armed Forces Covenant. Here's the official wording explaining how we'll support all those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces and their families. We're incredibly proud to share this information and images of the moment we put pen to paper. 

 

 

The Armed Forces Covenant

An Enduring Covenant Between

The People of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty’s Government

– and  –

All those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces of the Crown

And their Families

The first duty of Government is the defence of the realm. Our Armed Forces fulfil that responsibility on behalf of the Government, sacrificing some civilian freedoms, facing danger and, sometimes, suffering serious injury or death as a result of their duty. Families also play a vital role in supporting the operational effectiveness of our Armed Forces. In return, the whole nation has a moral obligation to the members of the Naval Service, the Army and the Royal Air Force, together with their families. They deserve our respect and support, and fair treatment.

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.

This obligation involves the whole of society: it includes voluntary and charitable bodies, private organisations, and the actions of individuals in supporting the Armed Forces. Recognising those who have performed military duty unites the country and demonstrates the value of their contribution. This has no greater expression than in upholding this Covenant.

Section 1: Principles of The Armed Forces Covenant

1.1 We Helpline Ltd will endeavour in our business dealings to uphold the key principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, which are:

• no member of the Armed Forces Community should face disadvantage in the provision of public and commercial services compared to any other citizen
• in some circumstances special treatment may be appropriate especially for the injured or bereaved.

Section 2: Demonstrating our Commitment

2.1 Helpline Ltd recognises the value serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families bring to our business. We will seek to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, by:

 

• promoting the fact that we are an armed forces-friendly organisation;
  • by publishing our Covenant pledge on a dedicated Corporate Covenant page on web page
  • by including the Covenant logo and name on internal and external publications in the future
  • using our social media channels to promote and raise awareness of the armed forces community and our support for it

• seeking to support the employment of veterans young and old:
  • by working with and advertising vacancies through the Career Transition Partnership (CTP,) as well as advertising widely in the Armed Forces Community, to ensure employment opportunities are made available to Veterans.
  • by welcoming applications from Veterans who meet the criteria in the job specification
  • by recognising, and ensuring our hiring managers are trained to recognise, the value and potential application of military skills and qualifications in our recruitment and selection process

• striving to support the employment of Service spouses and partners;
  • by working with and advertising vacancies with Recruit for Spouses, as well as advertising widely in the Armed Forces Community,
  • welcoming applications from spouses/partners who meet the criteria in the job specification
  • endeavouring to offer a degree of flexibility in granting leave for Service spouses and partners before, during and after a partner’s deployment

• seeking to support our employees who choose to be members of the Reserve forces, including accommodating their training and deployment where possible;
  • by ensuring staff are actively encouraged to become Reservists
  • by fully supporting and accommodating mobilised deployment of Reservist employees if required
  • by providing accommodation of Reserve training commitments wherever possible
  • by aiming to ensure up to 2 weeks per year of special paid leave is available to attend annual training camps
  • by encouraging those staff to act as ambassadors for the Reserve forces with the company

• offering support to our local cadet units, either in our local community or in local schools, where possible;
  • by ensuring staff are actively encouraged to become members of the Cadet Forces
  • by aiming to ensure up to 2 weeks per year of special paid leave may be available to attend annual training camps and courses
  • by providing accommodation of Cadet training commitments where possible
  • by considering sponsorship bids to support worthwhile Cadet projects

• aiming to actively participate in Armed Forces Day;
  • by becoming an AFD partner and:
  • in advance; promoting through the web, social media, membership and other networks
  • during; encouraging employees to take part in Reserve Forces Day, Uniform to Work Day and any Flag Raising Ceremonies; assisting with case studies and stories
  • post; publishing stories on the web, social media, through our own membership and other networks as well as working with the RFCA Communications lead & the press

• offering a discount to members of the Armed Forces Community;
  • by providing discounted services to veterans and spouses of veterans where possible

• additional commitments:
  • by encouraging and supporting employee fundraising for Service Charities
  • by continuing to protect the lives and well being of veterans and spouses that use our services
  • by reviewing the details of our commitment on a annual basis to ensure we are supporting the Armed Forces community in the best ways that we can

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 Service community and our customers on how we are doing.