Are you an Armed Forces family member, reservist or veteran
The Armed Forces Covenant is a pledge that together we acknowledge and understand that those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities, economy, and society they serve with their lives.
The Armed Forces Act, which gained Royal Assent in Parliament (December 2021), enshrines the Armed Forces Covenant in law for the first time to help prevent service personnel and veterans being disadvantaged when accessing essential services like healthcare, education, and housing.
The covenant focusses on helping member of the armed forces community have the same access to government and commercial services and products as any other citizen.
South Tees NHS Foundation Trust are proud to be a signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant and be able to provide both direct and indirect support to staff with a recognised Armed Forces status.
Help and support may be given in a number of areas including:
Education and family wellbeing
Having a home
Starting a new career with the NHS
Access to healthcare
Financial assistance
Discounted services
Benefits for NHS staff that declare their Armed Forces status on their Employment Service Record (ESR) include Discretionary Leave for reservists to attend training camps, employer management of operational deployments and flexible leave arrangements for spouses of the person deployed.
The voluntary addition of this information to your ESR will also help South Tees better understand the numbers of Armed Forces cohorts in our workforce and be able to provide adequate types and levels of support services.
We are therefore encouraging South Tees staff who identify with one or more of the categories below to manually update their ESR.
- Armed Forces Family Member
- Armed Forces Reservist
- Armed Forces Reservist – High Readiness
- Cadet Armed Forces Volunteer
The information you submit
Will be used to identify the numbers and status of South Tees staff who align with the armed forces community (AFC) so appropriate types and levels of support services can be developed within the organisation.
May be shared (anonymised) with national and regional bodies in planning NHS workforce strategies in the case of a military call-up of reservists and to plan sufficient/appropriate support services across South Tees.
How to update your ESR
If you are content to declare your Armed Forces status on your ESR or you would like your existing Armed Forces status to be removed from your ESR, please login in to ESR and follow the instructions below.
- Go to the ESR homepage and In My Personal Information area, click on the arrow, next to your name
- Click on Update My Information
- Select the tab My Wellbeing Information
- Select your Armed Forces status and click save.
- Please note on rare occasions and at the discretion of South Tees HR Department, evidence to support the recording of Armed Forces status on ESR may be requested. In such cases, ESR will not be updated until such satisfactory evidence is confirmed.
- For step by step guidance on updating your information in ESR, please visit;