Armed Forces Covenant – With Military Precision – Plymouth City Council

• Lead Member Plymouth City Council
• Categories Community

In May 2018, the new Labour administration made a commitment to revitalise the Armed Forces Covenant in Plymouth. It was at its outset a vibrant challenging partnership made up of individuals and organisations who wanted to express their support for the military and veteran community. However, numbers attending the Covenant meetings were dwindling and at the last meeting prior to May 2018, there were seven attendees. Something needed to be done.

The new administration immediately appointed an Armed Forces Champion, Cllr Pauline Murphy who tasked officers to make the Armed Forces Covenant stronger than it had ever been. The change in the last 12 months has been dramatic.

Since May 18, Plymouth has:

• Created four theme groups (Serving Personnel, Veterans, Children and Families and Corporate Partners) that meet regularly to guide and inform the larger Covenant group
• Each theme group is led by a different sector partner i.e the local authority, the voluntary and community sector, the military and the business sector)
• Agreed 3 key priority areas (Housing and Homelessness, Mental Health and PTSD and Celebration and Commemoration)
• Achieved the Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award
• Developed the first dedicated Armed Forces Covenant website designed and delivered by business sector partners
• Successfully bid for funding into the city from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund – this was the first successful bid for over 18 months.
• Increased the Armed Forces Covenant attendance from 7 to 33.       

This has been achieved because the “new” Covenant is led by the Council but owned by everybody. It is stronger because of the breadth and depth of the partners who contribute to make Plymouth a city that values its military past and looks forward to its military future.

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