Softcat Plc
Source: gov.uk (2025-11-10)

We, the undersigned, commit to honour the Armed Forces Covenant and support the Armed Forces Community. We recognise the value Serving Personnel, both Regular and Reservists, Veterans and military families contribute to our business and our country.

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 Corporate Covenant

1.1 We Softcat Plc 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;
- and in some circumstances that special treatment may be appropriate especially for the injured or bereaved.
Section 2: Demonstrating our commitment

2.1 Softcat Plc 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 pledging to the following:
- Armed Forces Friendly
- UK Service Veterans And Leavers
- UK Service Spouses And Partners
- Flexible Leave For Spouses
- UK Reservists
- Armed Forces Day
We also pledge the following:

promoting the fact that we are an armed forces-friendly organisation; Softcat would proudly display our commitment through signature of the Armed Forces Covenant on our website, we will also include it on a number of collaterals and email signatures within our verticalized Defence Team. A communication will be sent to all employees to state and reinforce our commitment, with a number of updates, detailing actions we are taking to support the Armed Forces in accordance with the Covenant. We are forming an internal Company-wide group for Veterans, Reservists and those working with Cadet units to share experiences and provide support for each other. seeking to support the employment of veterans young and old and working with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), in order to establish a tailored employment pathway for Service Leavers; Softcat already welcome Veterans and Reservists as employees. The Company will actively engage with CTP to explore new ways to engage with those looking to pursue a civilian career within the IT sector We will always offer interviews to those candidates that have the most suitable qualifications and background and we have a very active Diversity Policy to encourage and attract the widest range of potential talent. striving to support the employment of Service spouses and partners; The Company currently employs family members of those serving and is well positioned to accommodate their needs by offering flexible and remote working. Our people are our most important asset and by catering, wherever practicable, to their needs our experience is that they remain happy and productive. endeavouring to offer a degree of flexibility in granting leave for Service spouses and partners before, during and after a partners deployment; Softcat understand the pressure on families during deployment and will always try to accommodate the needs of our employees. In these trying circumstances, the business will always try to work with our employees to ensure they are able to take leave, work flexibly or move to another one of our UK branch offices to accompany their partner. seeking to support our employees who choose to be members of the Reserve forces, including by accommodating their training and deployment where possible; Softcat already employs Reservists and values the additional skills they bring to the workplace. The Company offers an additional week of unpaid leave to assist with training requirements and will engage fully with the Armed Forces should any of our Reservists be required to deploy. aiming to actively participate in Armed Forces Day; All employees are to be informed on Armed Forces Day of the significance of the commitment we have made. Veterans, Reservists and those working with Cadets will be present and visible in the offices to share their experiences and reinforce the message to all Monitoring the Commitment Softcat will appoint an Armed Forces Champion to ensure that the commitments made under this Covenant are upheld and developed. Should any commitment be consistently missed or no longer possible to achieve, we will inform the Armed Forces Covenant organisation

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.