Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust
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 Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust 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 Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust 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
- UK Cadets
- Armed Forces Day
- Reserve Forces Day
We also pledge the following:

Promoting the fact that we are an armed forces-friendly organisation: An area of the Trust website will be developed and maintained reinforcing support to the Armed Force and links with CTP. Recruitment materials will include reference to the Covenant and reinforce the Trusts support. The Trust will develop and publish case studies of employees and their relationship with the Armed Forces. 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 Recruitment policies will include the Trust commitment of recruiting veterans. The Trust will actively use CTP within its recruitment strategy. The Trust will seek to understand Military Qualifications in Recruitment/application processes. Striving to support the employment of Service spouses and partners; Recruitment strategies will endeavour to support the recruitment of spouses and partners The Trust will work with local military bases as part of its recruitment campaigns Endeavouring to offer a degree of flexibility in granting leave for Service spouses and partners before, during and after a partners deployment; Human resources policies will make explicit reference endeavouring to accommodate leave for service spouses linked to deployment Seeking to support our employees who choose to be members of the Reserve forces, including by accommodating their training and deployment where possible; The Trust will support recruitment to the Reserve Forces including encouraging Reserve recruiting teams access to Trust sites to support recruitment. The Trust will be proactive in communicating its commitment to Reservists in its employment The Trust will encourage non-Reservist employee participation in annual Exercise Medical Stretch weekends, or other similar ‘look-at-life’ experiences Offering support to our local cadet units, either in our local community or in local schools, where possible; The Trusts will offer work experience schemes to cadet units The Trust will encourage engagement of cadet units with the Trust The Trust will seek to recruit from cadet units The Trust will recognise and support employees who are Cadet Force Adult Volunteers Aiming to actively participate in Armed Forces Day; Will actively promote armed forces day The Trust will encourage a uniform to work day The Trust will utilise case studies to promote armed forces day Additional commitments Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust make; The Trust will offer opportunities as part of recruitment schedule to embed recruitment to reserve forces.

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.