Greater Manchester sets out ambition to be the best place for former and serving service personnel

• Greater Manchester leaders have signed the Armed Forces Covenant Roadmap
• Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), alongside Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) all signed the covenant as a joint pledge to support our Armed Forces community
• Covenant Roadmap highlights how further devolution and our Live Well model through community-led approaches can deliver the best outcomes for our Armed Forces family

Greater Manchester leaders have signed a joint pledge to commit to doing all they can for those who have served their country in our city-region.

The Greater Manchester Armed Forces Covenant Roadmap – signed by Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, GMP Chief Constable, Stephen Watson, and GMFRS Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Sarah Nattrass – set out the ambition for making our city-region the best place in the UK for former and serving service personnel to live.

The covenant is a formal commitment for local authorities and partners from across all sectors, including health and Voluntary and Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE), to do everything they can to improve the lives of Greater Manchester’s Armed Forces community.

Serving members of the forces, serving reservists who are often overlooked, veterans, their families and carers, as well as cadets and adult volunteers; are all equally important in Greater Manchester’s mission to do its utmost to prevent disadvantage through service, past or present.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:

"Our Armed Forces community are incredibly important to us and have too often wrongly been an afterthought in policy making in the past. That is why Greater Manchester puts such importance on our Armed Forces Covenant to make our city-region the best place in the UK for our serving and former service men and women to live.

"I’m proud to re-sign the covenant and continue our trailblazing work, alongside the incredible work our fire service and GMP are doing, to ensure that our Armed Forces family are a central pillar to our transformative Live Well ambitions."

The signing of the roadmap highlights the covenant’s importance in the GMCA’s decision-making, to deliver the best outcomes for residents in our city-region, and is a key component of our transformative Live Well agenda, working side by side with our Armed Forces community and partners to improve their lives.

Craig Monaghan, veteran and founder of the Spearhead Foundation plus Invictus Games athlete, said:

"The signing of this roadmap and the embedding of a more joined up approach across Greater Manchester is great to see. I know from my own experiences, and from veterans I see every day, that we need the support and understanding of the system every step of the way.

"The Greater Manchester Armed Forces Covenant Roadmap is a massive step in building on the successes of the covenant and making the lives of our Armed Forces community even better."

Sarah Nattrass, GMFRS Assistant Chief Fire Officer, said:

"We are proud to have maintained the gold standard in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme which recognises our ongoing work to ensure the Service is a forces friendly employer.

"We are incredibly grateful for our large armed forces family and the re-signing of the covenant shows our commitment to supporting veterans, reservists and their loved ones and to make sure we are making a difference for those who have given so much for this country.

"Our Armed Forces Network is a very important part of our service, and we will continue to work with partners to look at how we can all make a difference for the armed forces community."

GMFRS is recognised nationally for its outstanding support of the armed forces community in the city-region. The service is Gold rated by the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, which recognises GMFRS’s role in supporting a large number of veterans and reservists working at the service as well as its support for the armed forces community in the city-region.

GMFRS also has a thriving Armed Forces Staff Network, which provides an internal support network for all colleagues currently serving as a reservist, military veterans, and forces family members.

Chief Constable Stephen Watson QPM said:

"We’re delighted to re-sign this Armed Forces Covenant as we continue our unwavering commitment to protect those in our society who have themselves committed so much to protect us.

"We’re already leading the way in UK policing in looking after our ex-service personnel with the introduction of the Forcer Protocol. GMP was the first force to provide this specialist response to missing veterans, which has been vital in finding more than 100 former servicemen and women in their time of need since its launch in 2023

"At GMP, we have a significant number of officers who have either previously served in the Armed Forces or has a loved one that does. To this end, I am proud that we are already recognised as being a gold-standard employer as part of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme.

“We support our veterans, whether it be in our organisation or in the wider community, such as through our GMP armed forces steering group, or by being a leading figure in veteran referrals as part of Operation Nova. I am proud of the service we give to those who have served us, and it is our honour to continue doing this."

GMCA has worked closely with the Ministry of Defence to develop this roadmap and to highlight the work that can be done through local government partnerships to achieve our joint goals with the Armed Forces community.

The first Armed Forces Covenant was signed in 2014, with this roadmap setting out the steps to take its success further.

Article Published: 04/04/2025 12:33 PM