APPG Meeting: Armed Forces Covenant Duty

Last week, I chaired the latest meeting of the Armed Forces Community APPG, which discussed the extension and consistent implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty. We heard from those working every day to turn commitment into real-world impact for the Armed Forces community.

Vanessa Plumley MBE, RAF Families Federation, spoke powerfully about the experiences of RAF families navigating local services. She emphasised how inconsistent interpretation of the Covenant Duty across local authorities leads to confusion and frustration, especially on who qualifies for support and how to access it.

Cllr Ellie Ormsby, Westminster City Council, shared Westminster’s comprehensive approach to embedding the Covenant across departments. From housing allocations to school admissions, she stressed the importance of leadership, targeted staff training, and internal coordination. Her message was clear: good implementation doesn’t happen by accident; it must be deliberate, structured, and owned.

Angela Kitching, Royal British Legion, offered a strategic view of how the Duty is bedding in nationally. While acknowledging progress, she raised concerns about areas still outside the scope of the Duty, notably immigration, social care, and Armed Forces compensation, where families and veterans can still fall through the cracks. She also stressed the importance of transparency: for the Duty to work, we must be able to see how public bodies are meeting it, and how outcomes for the Armed Forces community are being tracked and improved.

We need an Armed Forces Covenant that is better understood, properly resourced, consistently applied, and extended across all policy areas. The commitment from the Government to strengthen the Covenant in law is welcome. But implementation must be comprehensive and measurable if we are to truly deliver on our promise.