Armed Forces Covenant

We are proud to have signed the Armed Forces Covenant, which is its pledge to recognise the value serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families can bring to the organisation. We currently hold the Gold award for our commitment to forces friendly initiatives such as employing veterans, supporting individuals transitioning out of the armed forces into a new career, and providing flexibility for reservists.

Chief Fire Officer Jason Thelwell said: “Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service has always endeavoured to support those who have served, those who are currently serving, and all those connected with the Armed Forces. We strongly believe the experience they have gained provides key transferable knowledge, skills and disciplines that can be of huge value to us.”

How do we show our support?

Career Transition Partnership

We engaged with Career Transition Partnership (CTP) in the recruitment of service leavers and have registered for the Forces Families Jobs (FFJ) portal.

Useful links

https://www.ctp.org.uk/ and Forces Family jobs; https://www.forcesfamiliesjobs.co.uk/.

Positive policies towards defence people issues

• We offer 10 days’ additional leave for training, fully paid, to the Reservist employee

Walk in centres

We have established Veteran walk in centres at Marlow, Aylesbury and West Ashland. These events provide a safe place for veterans with complex mental health issues to come and get that first level of support. We partner with Op Courage, Along with other supporting agencies such as Soldiers’, Sailors’, and Airmen’s Families Association (SSAFA), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the British Legion also being present.

Cadet Training Program

We are excited to be trailing a cadet program at our headquarters in Aylesbury. The program has been developed for local Army Cadets and runs once a month. The Cadets are aged between x & x and take part in activities run my Bucks Fire & Rescue staff such as

• Learning how to run out hose from the pump. This is not only physical but cadets get taught the right techniques so they can run hose correctly.
• Understanding the fundamentals of operating the pump.
• Watch live demonstrations from the different teams within the service like our Urban Search and Rescue Team.

They will also get to try out some incident simulations such as

• Tunnel casualty extraction – where they navigate through wooden tunnel system to extract a dummy casualty.
• Basic emergency care and trauma support
• Simple Road Traffic Collision response.