Armed Forces Covenant
With the help of a grant from The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, new learning materials have been developed to provide guidance to the Highland and Moray Community Planning Partnerships, Councillors and staff to raise awareness of the Armed Forces community. The material comprises a short, very basic initial video about the Armed Forces Covenant and more importantly demonstrates how life can be different for the armed forces community. The video runs on to some straightforward Qs and As and allows Members, line managers and frontline staff to consider these differences and to develop their own simple plan. Links at the end of the training also lead to complementary materials drawn together by Warwickshire County Council which provide much more detail about the community and the challenges they face.
All of these materials have been placed on the Highland and Moray Armed Forces website https://www.armedforcesmorayandhighland.co.uk/. There are further e-learning modules on the website and we would encourage you to take the time to browse through these and share with others you feel would benefit.
Most of you will be aware that there is now a statutory duty around the Armed Forces Covenant – from a Council perspective this particularly relates to education, housing and health – details are here - The New Armed Forces Covenant Duty: What organisations in scope will need to know - Armed Forces Covenant .
Finally, a reminder that Highland Council recommitted to the Armed Forces Covenant in 2018 – more details here - Highland Council's Armed Forces Community and Covenant | Armed Forces Covenant Pledge. We have already delivered on a number of these commitments and as a result were honoured with the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award in 2021 - Highland Council honoured for outstanding support towards the Armed Forces | The Highland Council.
If you would like more information about The Highland Council and its Armed Forces Community, contact Dot Ferguson (dot.ferguson@highland.gov.uk) or Emma Tayler (emma.tayler@highland.gov.uk).