Issue - meetings

To receive the annual Armed Forces Covenant report.

The Cabinet Member for Communities and Civic Pride, presented a report, which highlighted that the Council had made a clear and sustained commitment to support the borough’s armed forces community and the report provided an update on the work that had been undertaken during 2025/26 to:

• Support the Armed Forces community within the borough.
• Meet the Council’s commitments to the Armed Forces Covenant.
• Further develop the offer made by Telford and Wrekin Council, and partners, to support its Armed Forces Community and those with an armed forces connection.

The report set out the significant progress the Council had made in supporting the borough’s Armed Forces community and hopefully gave an insight into the outline and the plans for the year ahead.  The Council's Armed Forces Outreach Programme went well beyond the minimum obligations that many other local authorities sadly were in a position to only deliver.

As an employer, the Council had secured the revalidation of the Armed Forces Covenant Gold, awarded by the Ministry of Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, which the Cabinet Member was very proud of and had had a positive impact on employees and the workforce here within the Council.  Equally, it also allowed the Council to think as to how it could help support its veterans across the borough and it had enabled the Council to put some positive initiatives out into the community.

Whether it was a change to the Council’s HR policies, which supported those who had served or were reservists throughout the year, the Council had grown that armed forces staff network and it had been key.  The offer went beyond the valued employees and also focused, rightly, on veterans and their families across the borough.

The Cabinet Member was pleased that the report had identified many positives, and he touched on the opening of the Christopher Turley Armed Forces Community Hub where a significant amount of work had gone into generating, creating, staffing and making available a centralised hub that all veterans and their families could access throughout the year.  There was an ongoing commitment detailed in the report to ensure that this went from strength to strength.

The Hub was a dedicated space, which provided tailored advice and support, and the Cabinet Member said it had been a pleasure to be involved with this year.

The Council had continued the expansion of its Outreach Programme, which now delivered over 55 hours of community engagement on a monthly basis and included cafes, craft groups, drop-in sessions to tackle isolation and improve well-being.

The Models for Heroes Programme had been a runaway success and had attracted a high profile in the press since it was clearly something that was valued.  He said it had been a privilege to have joined them on a number of occasions and the work that they had done had provided a lovely, very kind and supportive environment for those veterans, regardless of how and where they had served, to come together and take part in doing something that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43