College of West Anglia and Anglian Water gain gold accolades for supporting Armed Forces community
The College of West Anglia and Anglian Water have both been named as recipients of the highest accolade employers can receive for backing the Armed Forces community in the workplace.
They were both named as winners of an Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award by the Ministry of Defence, which granted 11 such awards in East Anglia. They recognise steps employers have taken since signing the Armed Forces Covenant, to ensure veterans, reservists, cadet instructors and military spouses are not disadvantaged in the workplace.
The College of West Anglia has a long standing relationship with the Armed Forces recently enhanced by the launch of the Air and Defence Career College Programme.
Employing more than 20 veterans and several reservists and cadet force adult volunteers, the college has an internal military network and supportive HR policies in place.
Recently it has worked closely with RAF Marham to support two serving personnel find employment for their partners at the college.
The college works with the Royal Navy, Army and RAF Families Federations to understand areas of need and its employer engagement team attends RAF Marham to hold monthly CWA course advice clinics. This resulted in CWA delivering, at RAF Marham, bespoke courses such as beginners' Polish and GCSE maths.
Anglian Water is one of the biggest employers in the East of England and also has strong connections with the military community.
It employs more than 150 veterans, in excess of 20 reservists and numerous cadet force adult volunteers and military spouses and partners.
Chief executive Peter Simpson said: “We have a real responsibility to do all we can to support out service personnel. These are the people who have put their lives in the line for the country and we owe them a debt of gratitude.
"But as a businessman, I also want the very best people working for me – and often the skills our soldiers, sailors and airmen have are vital when it comes to the great engineering challenge of maintaining and improving Anglian Water’s vast network of pipes, sewers, pumping stations and treatment works.”
Anglian Water actively encouraged other companies to sign the Armed Forces Covenant and created a Defence community within their workforce via internal publications, intranet and social media groups.
