CARMARTHENSHIRE County Council has been celebrated for its support for the Armed Forces community.

The council is one of 17 employers in Wales to receive the prestigious Silver Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) in 2023.

This comes after the council re-affirmed its commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, but re-signing the covenant in July 2022, pledging to the Armed Forces community and their families that they will be given respect and fairness. The council was also awarded the Bronze Award of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme.

The council recognises the knowledge, skills and experience that veterans and members of the wider Armed Forces community provide and the council’s recruitment team works proactively with the Armed Forces Covenant liaison officer, the Poppy Factory and The Forces Employment Charity to access the Armed Forces employment pool and share relevant job opportunities.

Cllr Philip Hughes, cabinet member for organisation and workforce and Armed Forces champion, said: “As a council, we recognise the important contribution of serving members of the Armed Forces, veterans, reservists, and their families and the value that they bring to our communities and businesses.

“We are very proud to employ members of the Armed Forces community and achieving the silver level of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme is only the next step in our efforts to support the Armed Forces community. We will also, in the very near future, be in a position to offer the guaranteed interview scheme to applicants from the Armed Forces community that wish to join our workforce in the future.”

Hayley Edwards, the Armed Forces Covenant liaison officer, said: “Receiving the Silver Award validates the positive support that we have in Carmarthenshire County Council for our Armed Forces community. It also services to highlight the progressive work that our human resources team has undertaken to ensure that we are an Armed Forces friendly employer. There is still more to do, however, and our next step is to work towards the Gold Award.”

The scheme has three levels – Bronze, Silver and Gold – and to achieve Silver accreditation, organisations must proactively demonstrate that the Armed Forces community are not unfairly disadvantaged as part of their recruitment policies and must actively ensure their workforce is aware of the positive policies towards defence people issues for reservists, veterans, cadet force adult volunteers and spouses and partners of those serving in the Armed Forces.