MP David Morris MP is urging Lancaster City Council to sign up to the Armed Forces Covenant.
In a Parliamentary motion, David Morris says:
“That this house notes the government has introduced the armed forces covenant; further notes that the armed forces covenant sets out the relationship between the nation the state and the armed forces; notes that councils around the land have signed up to the armed forces covenant; notes with concern that lancaster city council has not yet signed up to the covenant; urges lancaster city council to sign up to show its support to redress the disadvantages that the armed forces community faces in comparison to other citizens and to recognise the sacrifices that they have made; notes that among the benefits the covenant entitles service personnel to council tax relief, keeps the armed forces compensation scheme free from means testing and doubles the welfare grant
A number of Councils have signed up to the Covenant since it was established by the Coalition Government in May 2011.
The Covenant’s achievements include:
- twice doubling Council Tax Relief which now stands at nearly £600 per service person for a six-month deployment
- keeping Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments free from being means-tested for social care purposes
- three guaranteed IVF cycles for seriously injured Service personnel
- schools are now allowed to exceed their maximum class size to accommodate the child of a Service person
- doubling the Families Welfare Grant
- launched the Community Covenant, supported by a £30 million Community Covenant Grant Scheme
- launched a financial awareness and training website for Service personnel and their families visit: MoneyForce
- launched the corporate covenant to foster stronger relationships between the armed forces community and businesses and charitable organisations