South West Lakes 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 South West Lakes 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 South West Lakes 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
- UK Reservists
- UK Cadets
- Armed Forces Day
- Discounts
- Armed Forces Charities
We also pledge the following:

-promoting the fact that we are an armed forces-friendly organisation; o promoting our work, activities and events through our own digital & social media channels as well as working with the press o publishing our Covenant pledge on a dedicated Armed Forces Covenant page on web site -seeking to support the employment of veterans young and old: o working with and advertising vacancies through the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), as well as advertising widely in the Armed Forces Community, to ensure employment opportunities are made available to Veterans -welcoming applications from Veterans who meet the criteria in the job specification -recognising military skills and qualifications in our recruitment and selection process -striving to support the employment of Service spouses and partners; o working with and advertising vacancies with Recruit for Spouses, as well as advertising widely in the Armed Forces Community, -welcoming applications from spouses/partners who meet the criteria in the job specification -endeavouring to offer a degree of flexibility in granting leave for Service spouses and partners before, during and after a partners deployment -seeking to support our employees who choose to be members of the Reserve forces, including accommodating their training and deployment where possible; -staff are actively encouraged to become Reservists -up to 2 weeks per year of special paid leave is available to attend annual training camps -accommodation of Reserve training commitments wherever possible o fully supporting and accommodating mobilised deployment of Reservist employees if required -offering support to our local cadet units, either in our local community or in local schools, where possible; -staff are actively encouraged to become members of the Cadet Forces -up to 2 weeks per year of special paid leave may be available to attend annual training camps and courses -accommodation of Cadet training commitments where possible -considering sponsorship bids to support worthwhile Cadet projects -aiming to actively participate in Armed Forces Day; -by becoming an AFD partner and: -in advance; promoting through the web, social media, membership and other networks -during; encouraging employees to take part in Reserve Forces Day, Uniform to Work Day and any Flag Raising Ceremonies; assisting with case studies and stories and working with the Wessex RFCA to get them to press -post; publishing stories on the web, social media, through our own membership and other networks as well as working with the RFCA Communications lead & the press -offering a discount to members of the Armed Forces Community; -registering with Defence Discount Service -offering bespoke continuing and/or limited time offers to Defence personnel -encourage and support employee fundraising for Service Charities

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.