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Armed Forces Covenant


Dundee’s Commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant

Dundee City Council has had a long and mutually supportive relationship with the Armed Forces which was formalised when the then Lord Provost, along with representatives of military and ex-service organisations, first signed the Armed Forces Community Covenant on the Council’s behalf in March 2012. The Covenant can be downloaded here.

Successive Lord Provosts have acted as Veterans Champions and used that role to support the armed forces and to lobby on behalf of veterans. This has included, for example, meeting with veterans organisations and corresponding with the Convenor of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group for Armed Forces and the Veterans Community about issues affecting ex-service personnel which had been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, including mental health and financial issues. 

The specific measures to which the Council committed itself in the Community Covenant were to promote services to armed forces personnel, veterans and their families to ensure uptake of welfare benefits and benefit and money advice services, housing options, education, access to leisure facilities, social care services and employability and training services. This commitment has been pursued by:

  • Providing information on Council services, and on policy issues affecting serving personnel or veterans, through the Firm Base Group (e.g. on the work of our Employment Disability Unit and the implications of Welfare Reform)
  • Helping to resolve any individual cases or queries relating to Council services, benefits, Council Tax etc
  • Ensuring links between the Council’s housing and homelessness services and the Scottish Veterans Housing Association residence at Rosendael
  • Providing support for veterans projects e.g. helping to fund a project which used to be located at City Quay which also hosted the Veterans First Point service managed by NHS Tayside. This has now been relocated to health board premises where the service continues to provide peer mentoring support from service veterans
  • Producing a section of the Council’s website on support for veterans and publishing a leaflet highlighting the key contacts for people leaving the Armed Forces on Council services and other services in Dundee, with the aim of ensuring that those leaving military service are aware of all the sources of information and advice which will help the transition to civilian life
  • Offering concessions for serving and former military personnel at the swimming pools and sports centres run on the Council’s behalf by Leisure and Culture Dundee