Armed Forces Covenant

What is the Armed Forces Covenant?

The Armed Forces Covenant represents a promise by the nation to the service personnel and their families.

It is a pledge that together we acknowledge and understand that those who serve - or who have previously served - in the armed forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect by the communities, economy and society they serve with their lives.

North Wales Police is one of 3,000 forces-friendly employers who are committed to supporting their employees who have served or currently serve in the armed forces. This extends to members of the armed forces community within the area – regular personnel, reservists, veterans, their spouses and bereaved members of the service personnel families.

The Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS)

The ERS recognises support from organisations to the armed forces community, and North Wales Police is proud to have been awarded the Employer Recognition Gold Award.

This demonstrates our commitment to supporting our armed forces community by ensuring they are not unfairly disadvantaged by any part of the recruitment and selection process, along with individuals being eligible to apply for special paid leave to support training up to 10 days per year.

To achieve Gold Award status, employers must:

• have signed the Armed Forces Covenant
• have an existing relationship with their National Account Manager/REED/appropriate defence representative
• already be demonstrating support by holding a valid ERS Silver Award. Employers that do not hold a valid ERS Silver Award cannot progress to the Gold level.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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, 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.
• not have been the subject of any negative public relations or media activity

Chief Constable Carl Foulkes, who previously served as an aircraft engineer in the Royal Navy, believes that North Wales provides the ideal location for defence workers to transition into police work.

He said: “As a force, North Wales is proud to employ 13 reservists, who are afforded dispensation if recalled by their respective armed forces in times of need.

“These individuals occupy a variety of operational and staff roles with North Wales Police and their transferrable skills are undoubtedly a useful asset in their police work.

“As an ex-serviceman myself, I am genuinely pleased that we have so many ex-forces colleagues who have decided to make policing in North Wales their career.

“Those who have served their country in the military can and do add a huge amount of lived experience to policing and I would encourage those who are interested in joining North Wales Police to get in touch and look at the opportunities we offer.

“Like the military, the breadth of different roles and dealing with so many different circumstances, often on a daily basis, is something that makes policing so unique and incredibly interesting.”

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Why choose North Wales Police?

If you are a current or previous member of the armed forces, you may be considering North Wales Police as a future employer.  

Coupled with the fact that you would be joining a dynamic, forward-thinking organisation, you would have the opportunity of working in areas of outstanding natural beauty. With a mix of rural and urban communities you will experience a wide range of different challenges on a daily basis.

North Wales is one of the safest places to live in the United Kingdom, serving a population of 676,000 people and covering an area of 6,300 square kilometres. As a high performing organisation North Wales Police constantly seeks to improve the service provided to our diverse communities.

We have a huge range of opportunities across the Force, so you can pursue an exciting career whatever your chosen field. Whether you join us in a uniformed role or as police staff, you can look forward to a range of opportunities for learning and development.

From job shadowing to learn about other roles and units, to studying for leadership qualifications, there are many options for personal growth. Whether you’re looking to move up the ranks or simply develop new skills, we’ll work with you to help you reach your full potential.

You can find out more about the various opportunities we offer by exploring our recruitment site.