Our Community, Our Covenant and beyond

Examining local realities and progress achieved in Armed Forces Covenant delivery

Close up of the UK flag patch on a soldier's uniform

Photo by Bumble Dee/Adobe Stock

What is the issue?

Local authorities, other public service providers, and members of the third sector play a crucial role in advancing the Armed Forces Covenant’s aim of ensuring that the Armed Forces Community faces no disadvantage compared to other citizens when accessing public and commercial services. While previous research has outlined a ‘core infrastructure’ for the Covenant’s implementation among these organisations, there is growing recognition that Covenant delivery approaches vary significantly across different local and regional settings. In order to support ongoing efforts to uphold the Covenant, it is essential to understand how these approaches materialise in practice as well as identify opportunities for developing or expanding them.

How did we help?

Forces in Mind Trust commissioned RAND Europe, in partnership with Shared Intelligence and Meri Mayhew Consulting, to conduct research on the local realities and progress achieved in Armed Forces Covenant delivery across England, Scotland, and Wales. The research had four key objectives:

Characterise the evolving environment for delivery of the Covenant and wider support to the Armed Forces Community.
Examine how local and national partners work with statutory authorities to support delivery of the Covenant and wider collective effect for the Armed Forces Community.
Improve understanding of how the Covenant is delivered at a regional level to mitigate disadvantage among the Armed Forces Community.
Characterise how different local delivery models shape the implementation of the Covenant and wider support to the Armed Forces Community, including what constitutes good practice.

To achieve these aims, the team used a mixed-methods research design. This included a literature review, interviews with local and national stakeholders, fieldwork visits to nine local authority areas, a survey issued to all principal local authorities in England, Scotland, and Wales, as well as five in-depth case studies.

What did we find?

The external environment for Covenant delivery is highly dynamic, presenting both challenges and opportunities. This includes the introduction of the Covenant Duty in 2022, which has reportedly given new momentum to the Covenant’s implementation and fostered greater partnership working in many cases. Nevertheless, local authorities and their partners have had to navigate ongoing devolution across England, fluctuations in central government funding, local and national elections, the ‘cost of living crisis’, and the prolonged effects of COVID-19.
Covenant delivery has seen marked advancements in some areas but continues to face challenges in others. Key sites of progress include increased awareness of the Covenant and potential sources of disadvantage for the Armed Forces Community among local authority staff. However, further work is needed to improve understanding of the Armed Forces Community among frontline service providers, signposting of relevant services, and strategic planning, among other areas.
Local Covenant activities are often embedded in a ‘core infrastructure’, but their delivery differs depending on an area’s geography, Armed Forces Community profile, local service providers, and wider support landscape. Rather than providing a ‘one size fits all’ blueprint, cases of good practice offer insight into how existing Covenant delivery models might be amended, extended, or updated depending on local contexts and circumstances.

What can be done?

The study provided 26 recommendations oriented at:

Promoting and fostering greater understanding of the Covenant among relevant service providers, the Armed Forces Community, and the wider public.
Grounding the delivery of the Covenant in tangible, measurable outcomes to support future evaluation efforts.
Encouraging all organisations supporting delivery of the Covenant and wider assistance for the Armed Forces Community to engage in partnership working.
Pursuing opportunities to further strengthen and better enable Covenant delivery at the local, regional, and national level.
Embedding effective Covenant delivery and wider support to the Armed Forces Community in robust data, research, and analysis.