University Of Surrey
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 University Of Surrey 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 University Of Surrey 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:

Aiming to actively participate in Armed Forces Day; we will actively encourage all staff, students and visitors to participate actively in acts of memorial on Armistice Day To support our students applying for extenuating circumstances that temporarily make it impossible to participate in a programme and undertake assessments, due to the impact of the activities of their family and/or partner serving in the Armed Forces Promoting careers in the armed forces as part of our student employability initiatives Through our Higher Education Outreach Network Partnership, to support children from Armed Forces families in Surrey and nationwide by collaborating with five other Uni Connect partnerships and the SCiP Alliance to develop projects to support service children in primary schools Through our Access and Participation programme, continue to prioritise working with students from Armed forced families, especially wit University access and transition into university To offer greater flexibility in granting leave for Ser-vice spouses and partners before, during and after a partners deployment; subject to operational requirements. The university will consider alllowing the employee to take an extended period of leave (from their standard entitlement) Seeking to support our employees who are members of the Reserve Forces, including by accommodating their training and deployment where possible. Members and their managers are encouraged to use the annual appraisal round to explore how the employees military experience can be effectively applied to their work - To offer greater flexibility in granting leave for Ser-vice spouses and partners before, during and after a partners deployment; subject to operational requirements. The university will consider alllowing the employee to take an extended period of leave (from their standard entitlement) Seeking to support our employees who are members of the Reserve Forces, including by accommodating their training and deployment where possible. Members and their managers are encouraged to use the annual appraisal round to explore how the employees military experience can be effectively applied to their work -by publicising our covenant on our website and displaying the covenant logo

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.