Armed Forces Covenant

Am I eligible?

The Armed Forces Covenant is for all those who serve or have served in the UK Armed Forces (regular and reserve), and their families, including bereaved family members.

What’s it for?

The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise 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.

What do I get?

Many initiatives have been successfully implemented under the auspices of the Covenant since it came into existence in its current form in 2011, and more detail can be found in the Covenant Annual Reports and on the Covenant website. Past successes include:

• No penalty to suspend mobile phone contracts when posted overseas.

• Being able to let your private property when posted without having to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage.

• Establishing criteria under which the Armed Forces community in England cannot be disqualified from social housing because of a local connection requirement.

• Introducing the Service Pupil Premium, which provides extra funding to state schools attended by Service children in England.

• Lump sum payment to certain widow(er)s of Armed Forces personnel who forfeited their entitlement to a pension for a Service attributable death prior to 2015 and have not had this pension restored.

How do I claim this?

The Covenant’s two principles are already being implemented in different ways by thousands of organisations across the UK, across the public, private and third sectors.

By accessing the Covenant website, you can find out:

• what Covenant initiatives are already in place.

• which organisations have signed a pledge to implement the Covenant, and what they’ve pledged to do.

• which organisations have a legal obligation to consider the Covenant, and when.

• what to do if you think an organisation isn’t fulfilling its Covenant obligations.