In January 2024, Chief Fire Officer Dawn Whittaker signed the Armed Forces Covenant.
What is the Armed Forces Covenant?
The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise that together we acknowledge and understand that those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities, economy and society they serve with their lives.
Its two principles are that, recognising the unique obligations of, and sacrifices made by, the Armed Forces:
- 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.
Our promise
We recognise the contribution that Service personnel, reservists, veterans, the cadet movement and military families make to our organisation, our community and to the country. We will seek to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant by:
- Promoting the Armed Forces: we will signpost the Armed Services through our website
- Employment support to members of the Armed Forces Community: our recruitment process is open to all. We welcome applications people with an Armed Forces background or who are Reservists. Many skills learnt in Service to the Country are transferrable to the Fire and Rescue Service.
- Health: we support staff and volunteers through our Occupational Health partners and offer subsidised membership of Benenden Health.
- Housing: we offer free Home Safety Visits to everybody and prioritise people who are vulnerable
- Education: ESFRS offers a wide range of training programmes to support staff and volunteers.
- Civic responsibilities: we demonstrate our support for the Armed Services through our attendance at events and wards presentations as well as supporting our local Armed Forces network
- We welcome applications form young people from Armed Forces families to join Fire Cadets
Read more about the Covenant: https://www.armedforcescovenant.gov.uk/
See our signed Covenant below.
Find out more about our armed services:
British Army: https://www.army.mod.uk/
Royal Navy: https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/
Royal Air Force: https://www.raf.mod.uk/