Metropolitan Police Service
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 Metropolitan Police Service 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 Metropolitan Police Service 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
We also pledge the following:

-armed forces friendly: reviewing our policy and highlighting the valuable contribution our reservists give to the UK and that as an organisation we value the skills they bring back into the workplace that benefits both the MPS and Londoners -we will continue to hold bi-annual networking events, where reservists and their line managers can meet with MPS senior leaders to better understand the positive impact their staff have on London communities through their voluntary service -employment of veterans: we are exploring how we can streamline the process for talented military leavers to join the met -employment of spouses; we are hoping to introduce a guaranteed interview scheme for the military spouses if they meet the minimum criteria. This is acknowledgement that they face disadvantage with having to move every two years but also recognising the key skills they have- resilience, adaptability and drive to succeed -continuing to mentor public service organisations in their support to staff who are members of the reserve forces and adult cadet instructors and help those organisations achieve suitable employer award recognition -Work with the MO to recognise the vocations and professional qualifications our reservists have to allow them to utilise those skills in policing thereby reducing the burden on the public purse and assisting in the continued professional development of those reservists and cadet instructors -Reservists: 15 days additional leave, cadet adult instructors also benefit from 5 days additional leave and both groups can apply for unpaid leave -Use our policies for compassionate and emergency leave to support service spouses and partners in the event of bereavement or serious injury -Continuing to hold workplace recruiting events in support of reservist recruitment, the MPS has hosted 4 events in the last 3 years, and in excess of 750 MPS staff have attended. In addition we have hosted a recruitment fare aimed specifically at female and BAME staff who are under-represented in the reserves. To date, the conversion rate from attendees to becoming reservists is 12% -Cadets: some of our schools officers are adult cadet instructors, and where the only voluntary youth organisation in that area is either a CCF or ATC unit, those officers have promoted them to help as both a youth diversion tactic and as a positive role model for vulnerable children -Armed forces day: holding an annual reserves day, where reserves and cadet instructors can meet MPS senior leaders to acknowledge and celebrate their contribution to the armed forces and to promote their services through internal and external communications. -Look to build on our relationship with the service police in order to work more collaboratively in order to help reassure those military communities based in London and to offer resilience and support to local policing where military communities are based. -Continuing to support employer support events by ensuring our leaders and key influences attend these events so they can understand the value of having reservists and cadet instructors and the value they can add to MPS and London

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.