Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary
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 Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary 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 Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary 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 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:

Growing our internal staff network (Armed Forces Forum) who will advocate for and support all officers and staff from our military communities Publicising the Armed Forces Covenant and logo, together with our commitments on our website and social media. Promote Reserve Force membership within the organisation and recruitment activity. Promote Armed Forces Day and Reserves Day via our intra net and encourage employees to participate in Armed Forces Day local events. Maintaining our force policy that provides extra leave for staff to attend annual training Accommodate Reservists training commitments whenever possible Release Reservists who are mobilised except in exceptional cases Put in place a Military Partnerships Lead who will act as a central point of contact for Reserves, and wider military communities Support our Armed Forces Forum which provides governance and support to reservists within our organisation. Actively seek to support the employment of veterans, both young and old. Review our recruitment and training processes and actively seek to reduce barriers to recruit-ment of military service leavers and reservists. Recognise and value military skills and qualifications when recruiting for all positions. Work with Career Transition Partnership (CTP) to understand how we can best establish a tai- lored employment pathway for service leavers. Consider holding industry insight days to develop an understanding between military and the op-portunities available at HIOWC. Seeking to make work placements available through the Ministry of Defence’s Careers Transition Partnership (CTP), via our buddy scheme, across a variety of areas within HIOWC Participating in the Career Transition Partnerships events in the South East supported by veter-ans already within our workforce. Advertising Vacancies on the CTP Website and via other appropriate means (Civvy Street) Provide points of contact from our Armed Forces Forum staff network to help service leavers un-derstand the transferability of their skills into HIOWC and providing practical help from point of interest to integration into the organisation. Supporting military leavers with physical injuries in finding employment opportunities at Hamp-shire and Isle of Wight Constabulary Recognising the need to grant leave whenever possible before, during and after a partner is de-ployed overseas, also understanding that these can involve short notice changes. Using our policies for compassionate and emergency leave in the event of bereavement or seri-ous injury If possible, attempt to find alternative employment within the business in another location if the spouse/partner needs to move to accompany their service partner. Advertising vacancies on BFF Jobs Provide Armed Forces Champions within our organisation who are trained to provide additional support and signposting to military communities both internally and externally. Provide events focussed on building relationships with veterans within our communities (Veter-ans Coffee mornings) Deliver awareness training in all our Custody suites to ensure that support and signposting is available to veterans and serving military personnel who come into contact with the police Seek to update processes where possible to identify veterans when they come into contact with the police Allowing extra leave for staff who are instructors for annual training camps Encourage staff to become cadet helpers or instructors.

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.