A grant of £370,000 has been awarded to drive awareness of the Armed Forces Covenant – helping more Service personnel and families to access support and understand how the Armed Forces Covenant Legal Duty extension, as part of the Armed Forces Bill, will directly benefit them.
The Army Families Federation (AFF) will receive the grant on behalf of the Tri-Service Families Federations, which includes the AFF, Naval Families Federation and the RAF Families Federation . Together, they will develop the Covenant Awareness Programme, coordinating efforts with other relevant organisations.
Funded for two years by the Ministry of Defence’s Armed Forces Families Fund , the Covenant Awareness Programme will:
- Significantly improve awareness and understanding of the Armed Forces Covenant by creating and sharing resources and engaging with Service families.
- Enhance the well-being and resilience of Service families through better access to resources and support networks.
- Inform Service families of how the Armed Forces Covenant Legal Duty extension through the Armed Forces Bill – which is progressing through Parliament – will positively impact them.
What does extending the Armed Forces Covenant Legal Duty mean for the Service community?
Hear from the Ministry of Defence’s Minister for Veterans and People, Louise Sandher-Jones, MP:
Placing the Armed Forces community at the heart of policy and decision making
The Armed Forces Bill – which is progressing through Parliament and currently at the Select Committee Stage – will deliver on the Government’s manifesto promise to extend the Armed Forces Covenant Legal Duty to every area of Government and Devolved Governments.
This will ensure that, for the first time, all Ministerial departments, devolved Governments and local public delivery bodies must consider the needs of the Armed Forces community when making decisions within key policy areas. Decisions on childcare, education and training, employment, health and social care, housing, social security benefits, personal taxation, criminal justice, transport, pensions, immigration and citizenship, will take the unique challenges of Service life into account.
It gives serving personnel, Reservists, Veterans, and their families a meaningful voice and delivers on the Government’s pledge to renew the nation’s contract with those who serve and have served.
What is the Armed Forces Covenant?
Since its inception in 2011, the Covenant has stood as a national promise: those who serve or have served, and their families – including the bereaved – should be treated fairly, with special provision for those who have sacrificed the most. The new legal duty is a transformative step in fulfilling that promise.
