The Mercers' Company
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 The Mercers’ Company 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 The Mercers’ Company 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:
- UK Reservists
- UK Cadets
We also pledge the following:

We will maintain strong links with each of our affiliated service units in the Army, Navy, RAF, Cadets and the FANY. We will promote regular dialogue and correspondence and issue regular invitations for service personnel to attend Company events. We will encourage our affiliated service units to nominate one point of contact and to keep us advised of changes in staffing; the Company in return will encourage correspondence with the Clerks office to provide continuity of contact. We will seek to involve a cross section of members in visits to affiliated units, when such opportunities arise. We will seek to raise awareness across our wide network of members of the scope of duties carried out by the Armed Forces and the importance of the Armed Forces Covenant and invite our affiliated units to present at General Court. We will publicise our links with affiliated service units and feature their work in our Company communications by inviting our nominated contacts to provide appropriate content and photos. We will give an annual grant to our affiliated units each year and will also give consideration to any request for additional funding for special projects, up to a maximum limit set by the Master and Wardens in each years budget. We will not publish names and photos of serving personnel without the express consent of the individuals and the CO or Officer Commanding respectively. We will encourage our Members and those in our core network to support the Poppy Appeal and Remembrance activities. We will participate in, and provide a financial contribution to, the City of London Garden of Remembrance Service each year. The Master will represent the Company in showing respect to the fallen and giving thanks for the service of all in the Armed Forces. We will participate in the United Guilds Service and the Master Mercer will process into the service. We will support our affiliated units when invited to do so by attending any civic function at which their role and contribution to the community are being recognised, for example, local annual presentations, Freedom of a town or city; achievement of national or royal recognition and awards.

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.