Oakland International Limited
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 Oakland International Limited 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 Oakland International Limited 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
- Discounts
- Armed Forces Charities
- UK Wounded, Injured And Sick
We also pledge the following:

Promoting the Armed Forces: promoting ourselves as an Armed Forces-friendly organisation and marketing our support to employees, customers, suppliers, contractors and the wider public; Celebrating veterans: actively seeking to employee veterans, recognising the diversity of military skills and qualifications in our agency partnerships, recruitment and selection process and working with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) to support the transition of Service leavers; Service Spouses & Partners: welcoming the employment of Service spouses and partners, partnering with the Forces Families Jobs Forum (https://www.forcesfamiliesjobs.co.uk/) and adapting our policies to granting leave and flexibility for Service spouses and partners before, during and after a partners deployment; Encouraging Reserves: acknowledging our employees who are members of the Reserve Forces, granting additional one weeks paid leave per annum and offering the provision of further unpaid leave for annual Reserve Forces training, supporting any mobilisations and deployment, and actively encouraging members of staff to become Reservists; Cadet Organisations: encouraging our employees who are volunteer leaders in military cadet organisations, granting additional paid/unpaid leave to attend annual training camps and courses, actively encouraging members of staff to become volunteer leaders in cadet organisations, supporting local military cadet units, and recognising the benefits of employing cadets/ex-cadets within our workforce; National Events: supporting Armed Forces Day, Reserves Day the Poppy Appeal Day and Remembrance activities; Armed Forces Charities: supporting Armed Forces charities with fundraising and supporting staff who volunteer to assist; and, Commercial Support: offering a discount to members of the Armed Forces community. 2.2 We will publicise these commitments through the use of the AFC logo in our company literature, on staff notices boards and internal media, and on our website and employee app, setting out how we will seek to honour them and inviting feedback from the Service community, our staff and our customers on how we are doing. Our targets are to: hire at least one new employee per annum in each of our sites who is associated with the Armed Forces and who meets the minimum criteria for the role; update, maintain and publish policies to reflect our commitment to the AFC; seek to support at least one AF charity event per annum.

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.