Trafford Council
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 Trafford Council 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 Trafford Council 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
- Discounts
We also pledge the following:

-Publicising our armed forces covenant commitment on our website and through appropriate means and by promoting the fact to our employees through our intranet pages and at specific staff events to promote the armed forces -Always offering an interview to veterans, young and old, if they declare their status and meet the minimum selection criteria laid out in a job advert and the criteria for the guaranteed interview scheme. This would not constitute the guarantee of a job, but rather the offer of an opportunity to prove themselves in an interview -Looking sympathetically on requests for holiday before, during or after a partner’s deployment, when the service person has leave to spend time with their family. To consider whether special paid leave is appropriate for employees who are bereaved or whose loved ones are injured -Providing 10 days paid leave for duties and training, releasing them for deployment where possible and providing appropriate support before and after periods of mobilisation -Seeking to promote the reserve forces to our employees through various means, including the provision of a reservist policy, attendance at events and promotional material specific to the reservists -Supporting those reservists who wish to wear their military uniform to work on uniform to work day in the run up to armed forces day -Working with local cadets units, in our local communities or in local schools, and where possible include them in our calendar of events eg. remembrance day and armed forces days, and other related armed forces events -Organising and actively participating in and promoting armed forces day events in Trafford -Encouraging local partners to offer discount to members of the armed forces community -Working collaboratively with our local military units to engage with us on a business support level to encompass things such as civil contingency/emergency planning and reactionary work connected to climate change -Creating and maintaining policies that support better access to housing to assist current and ex-members of the armed forces to relocate and settle in Trafford -Improving signposting and access to support for current and ex-members of the armed forces by maintaining an uptodate specialist directory of services on our web site -Maintaining and promoting our dedicated armed forces web pages -Having a named member of staff who is able to support or signpost serving reservists and veterans of the military -Providing or organising work experience or job shadowing where possible for members of the armed forces community -Having a dedicated armed forces champion who is an elected member of Trafford council -Ensuring we are actively taking part in Greater Manchester armed forces lead officers group and greater manchester housing group sharing best practice procedures and using any knowledge to support our armed forces community in Trafford -Offering peer support and advice to other local authorities across greater Manchester where appropriate -Operate and promote the Trafford armed forces partnership, developing working relationships with organisations that support the armed forces community; providing support and advice to organisations; encouraging them to sign an armed forces covenant

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.