Name: Armed Forces Covenant: Employment law update and employer support guidance
Start: 2025-12-11T08:30:00+00:00
End: 2025-12-11T11:00:00+00:00
Location: Holiday Inn Southampton-Eastleigh M3,Jct13 by IHG

Armed Forces Covenant: Employment law update and employer support guidance

The Armed Forces Covenant impacts businesses by providing a framework for demonstrating support for the Armed Forces community.
About this Event

The Armed Forces Covenant impacts businesses by providing a framework for demonstrating support for the Armed Forces community. Businesses can benefit from the commitment to treat members fairly and not disadvantage them due to their service. This includes offering employment to veterans and those leaving the services, supporting reservists, and providing discounts to the Armed Forces community. Additionally, businesses can receive recognition for their commitment through awards and the Employer Recognition Scheme. The Covenant encourages businesses to actively support the Armed Forces community, which can lead to a well-disciplined and highly trained workforce.

Employers are responsible for ensuring fair treatment of members of the Armed Forces community, including spouses and partners. They must comply with the Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS), which recognizes employers that provide exceptional support to the Armed Forces community and Defence. The ERS offers a 3-tier approach of bronze, silver, and gold awards, allowing the Ministry of Defence to publicly thank and honor those organizations for their support. Employers can nominate themselves for a bronze award, and organizations meeting specific criteria can receive silver and gold awards.

The Armed Forces Covenant Duty places a legal responsibility on certain organizations to pay 'due regard' to the principles of the Covenant, which aims to increase awareness of service life in the Armed Forces community and highlight potential disadvantages that members may experience when accessing local services.

Businesses and charitable organizations can sign the Armed Forces Covenant to demonstrate their support for the Armed Forces community, which includes policies that encourage Reserve service, support the employment of Veterans and Service spouses/partners, and give the Armed Forces community a fair deal on commercial products and services.

The Armed Forces Covenant allows businesses to focus their support for the Armed Forces community in a single document, forming the foundation for a partnership with Defence. Signing the covenant means that you are supporting your employees who choose to serve the nation as Reservists.

Speaker:

Commodore Jo Adey FCIPD

Commodore Jo Adey is responsible for the 3,270 men and women who give up their spare time to serve as Maritime Reserves. She took on this senior role in July 2023 and has over 30 year experience. Commodore Adey is a Fellow of CIPD and comes with a strong HR background which links to her military service.

Please note:

1. Reminder emails will be sent to you the day before, with a further reminder on the morning of the event.

2. Photography and video production may take place at the event, and these images may be used in the CIPD newsletters.

3. By attending the event, you are giving your consent for your image to be used on any CIPD promotional materials.

4. Please cancel your ticket so someone else can take your place if your plans change and you can no longer make it – there is usually a waitlist for our events.

5. This event may include an external speaker who has prepared their own presentation. Any views or opinions expressed by the speaker are their own and do not reflect those of the CIPD.

6. If you require any reasonable adjustments to enhance your experience, please get in contact with us by responding to this email and we will do our best to accommodate.