Employers receive coveted Ministry of Defence Award
Thirty seven employers from the West Midlands region have been presented with their Ministry of Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Silver Awards. Our awards took place on Wednesday 11th September, at the National Memorial Arboretum.
The ERS awards are now in their 10th year and continue to recognise employer support for the wider principles of the Armed Forces Covenant. The scheme encompasses bronze, silver and gold awards for the employers that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to Defence and the Armed Forces community. This includes the Reserves, Veterans, Cadet Force Adult Volunteers, Cadets, and military spouses or partners.
The winning West Midlands organisations are spread across all of our regions counties and come from a wide range of sectors including construction, local government, healthcare, technology and more. This year’s winners broken down into counties are:
Herefordshire: Herefordshire's Veteran Support Centre, Origin8tive Limited, Precision Technic Defence Ltd
Shropshire: Approved Care and Support Ltd, Dodd Group Limited, Donnington & Muxton Parish Council, Dulson Training Ltd, Laurel Group Limited, Model Events, Oakengates Town Council, Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, The Essential Expert Limited
Staffordshire: Belvoir Stafford and Stone (OAJ Limited), Blue Cube Portable Cold Stores Limited, North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, Tamworth Borough Council
Warwickshire: Alliance Medical Ltd, Coventry City Council, Driving Academy Global Limited, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Godiva Ltd, Manufacturing Technology Centre Limited, My Trusted Wills and Estate Planning LLP, South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust, Wigley Investment Holdings
West Midlands: Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust, Birmingham Youth Sports Academy, Jonathan Lee Recruitment Limited, MAC Surfacing Limited, Modality Partnership, PLT Training Limited, Rider Levett Bucknall UK Ltd, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, Workspace Technology Limited
Worcestershire: Assure Technical Limited, Karndean Designflooring
Hayley Norgrove, Operations Director of Dulson Training Ltd commented: “We are delighted to receive the Silver Award for our efforts to further support our Armed Forces Community. We work hard to offer a workplace for veterans to transition into civilian life, we have a Cadet Force leader within our office team, and we work with ELCAS and Veterans into Logistics to help secure suitable employment for service leavers.”
Councillor Linda Bigham, Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Armed Forces Champion for Coventry City Council said: "The Armed Forces Covenant Silver Award is for Coventry City Council a visible symbol of our intent to ensure that those who defend all of us are not disadvantaged by their service; and that the talents and dedication of veterans and Reservists are given further arenas in which to shine and benefit from their undoubted talents, skills and experiences".
Darren Knight, Philip Sinclair and Cat Suckling, Regional Employer Engagement Directors for West Midland RFCA commented on the awards: “Many congratulations to all of this year’s winners. It is a pleasure to able to work with each one in order to achieve their goal.
“We understand how much work each winner puts in and we thank them, on behalf of the Armed Forces community, for the effort they put in.
“They are all well-deserved winners and we look forward to continuing to work with them.”
The lunch time event was held in Aspects at the iconic National Memorial Arboretum, a fitting place for such awards to be presented. Guests were welcomed to the event by representatives from some of the local Royal Naval Reserve, Army Reserve and Royal Air Force Reserve units and the event concluded with a short Act of Remembrance at the Armed Forces Memorial.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the Employer Recognition Scheme please visit wmrfca.org/employers or contact our employer engagement team on wm-ee@rfca.mod.uk
By J Taylor - Contributor
