Defence Employer Recognition Scheme – Gold Award

On 2 September 2020 an official notification was received by the County Council from The RT Hon Ben Wallace MP – Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom. In his letter the Secretary of State congratulated the county council on achieving Gold status, one of 127 organisations nationally.

The defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) encourages employers to support defence and inspire others to do the same.

The scheme encompasses bronze, silver and gold awards for employer organisations that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to defence and the armed forces community, and align their values with the Armed Forces Covenant.

Gold award holders:

  • must have signed the Armed Forces Covenant
  • employers must have an existing relationship with their National Account Manager/REED/appropriate defence representative
  • the employer should already be demonstrating support by receiving an ERS Silver Award
  • the employer must proactively demonstrate their forces-friendly credentials as part of their recruiting and selection processes. Where possible, they should be engaged with Career Transition Partnership (CTP) in the recruitment of service leavers and have registered for the Forces Families Jobs (FFJ) portal
  • employers must employ at least one individual from the armed forces community category that the nomination emphasises. For example, an employer nominated for support to the Reserves must employ at least one Reservist
  • the employer must actively ensure that their workforce is aware of their positive policies towards defence people issues. For example, an employer nominated for support to the Reserves must have an internally publicised and positive human resources policy on Reserves
  • the employer must be an exemplar within their market sector, advocating support to defence people issues to partner organisations, suppliers and customers with tangible positive results
  • within the context of Reserves the employer must have demonstrated support to mobilisations or have a framework in place. They must provide at least 10 days’ additional leave for training, fully paid, to the Reservist employee
  • the employer must not have been the subject of any negative public relations or media activity

 

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