SADDLEWORTH Parish Council has promised to help ensure those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, and their families, are treated fairly.
This includes starting a new career, having a home, access to health care, education and family well-being after their service to the nation has finished.
Chairman Cllr Barbara Beeley and vice-chair Cllr Pam Byrne signed the Armed Forces Covenant to pledge the Parish Council’s support.
They were watched by chair of the Saddleworth branch of the Royal British Legion Paddy Diamond and standard bearer Alison Clowes along with Cadet Corporal Brandon Laban.
Mr Diamond said: “We would like to thank Saddleworth Parish Council for its support of the covenant and service families in our community.”
The motion to sign the covenant and also pursue the Bronze certification for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme received unanimous support from the councillors at their meeting in November.
Cllr Luke Lancaster, who proposed the motion, said: “In signing the covenant, we can make known that we are just as committed to the Armed Forces community now as we ever have been.
“With it having been 10 years since the covenant was enshrined in law and in the centenary year of the Royal British Legion, there is no better time for the Parish Council to restate its commitment and become a signatory.
“We have feelings of appreciation and respect for our ‘Greatest Generation’ and that is absolutely appropriate.
“We should also make efforts to afford that same appreciation and respect for younger serving personnel and younger veterans, who have fought for our country in other conflicts, and who have been there on home soil when we’ve needed them most, including their support in coordinating mass testing and vaccination programmes across the course of the pandemic.”
He added the Armed Forces community can face challenges in securing worthwhile and lasting employment and that for some returning to ‘civvy street’ can be fraught with difficulties.
Also, many service leavers are young men and women who have completed occupations in the Armed Forces of 10 years or less, and who are left to reinvent their professional careers.
Cllr Max Woodvine, who seconded the motion, said: “Veterans bring many skills to the workplace, such as management in high-pressured situation and strong organisational competency.
“The important principal of the covenant is that no member of the Armed Forces community should face disadvantage so it is our responsibility to promote this at our level of local government.”
In applying to the Bronze Defence Employer Recognition Scheme and working with the Career Transition Partnership and Forces Families Jobs, the Parish Council will uphold that they are forces-friendly and inspire good practice among other employers in Saddleworth.
Across Oldham there are 532 veterans claiming a military pension, 284 people in receipt of military compensation and 20 war widows whose spouse or partner died as a result of service.
Cllr Rob Knotts, who served 33 years in the RAF, said: “This plays a very large factor in supporting the military throughout the country.
“I am very proud to be able to support this, especially to help the young people coming through.’
Cllr Jamie Curley added: “It is really important that we support our armed forces community.
“If there is support at a local level, that is comforting.
“We should also support the local cadet units. They do so much good work transforming young people’s lives and equipping them for a better future.”
• Find out more online: www.armedforcescovenant.gov.uk
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