GB Railfreight signs the Armed Forces Covenant in honour of Armed Forces Day

In honour of Armed Forces Day, on 28th June 2018, GB Railfreight once again showed its ongoing commitment to the Armed Forces community by signing the Armed Forces Covenant. The Covenant represents a promise by the nation that those who serve or have served, and their families, are treated fairly. Through the Covenant, GB Railfreight recognises the value serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families bring to their business, with GB Railfreight promising to uphold the following commitments:

• Proactively demonstrating the fact that we are an armed forces-friendly organisation by promoting the various branches of the military and honouring the sacrifices of serving and retired personnel and their families have made;
• Seeking to support the employment of veterans, young and old, and working with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), in order to establish a tailored employment pathway for Service Leavers at GB Railfreight;
• Striving to support the employment of Service spouses and partners, recognising through our working practices that special consideration is often required, and providing the flexibility that entails, for instance around spousal deployment;
• Seeking to support our employees who choose to be members of the Reserve forces, including by accommodating their training and deployment where possible, and providing consideration for their spouses in such circumstances;
• Offering support to our local cadet units, either in our local community or in local schools, where possible, offering opportunities to see the work of GB Railfreight, to hear from our workforce, and to provide backing for events that the units wish to run or take part in;
• Aiming to actively participate in Armed Forces Day to commemorate the heroism of our servicemen and women from all branches of the military.

We will publicise these commitments through our literature, and/or on our website, through media engagement, and via our workplace app, Track Chat, setting out how we will seek to honour them and inviting feedback from the Service community and our customers on how we are doing. GB Railfreight’s signing of the Armed Forces Covenant formalises a history of commitment from the company to supporting the armed forces community. In addition to its employment of ex-services personnel, GB Railfreight has previously renamed two of its Class 66 locomotives ‘Royal Corps of Signals’ and 'HMS Argyll', painting them in a special livery and adorning them with crests and insignia. John Smith, Managing Director of GB Railfreight, said of the Covenant: “Both personally and as a company, we are honoured to now be a business signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant. The work that the men and women of our armed forces do could never be fully repaid, but GB Railfreight hopes that through our signing of the Covenant, in a small way we can show our enduring gratitude to the sacrifice that is made on a daily basis by these brave men and women, as well as their families back home. Ex-servicepeople bring a unique skill set to GB Railfreight, and we look forward to welcoming more heroes to the GB team going forward.”