Supporting the Armed Forces

Royal Berkshire Fire Authority and Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service are committed to supporting veterans and Armed Forces community.

In 2018, we signed the Armed Forces Covenant, formalising our commitment to members of the Armed Forces.

Since then, we’ve worked with the Career Transition Partnership to take part in and host the UK’s first Tri-Service Career Insight Day (2019). We’ve also been part of the Open Health Day at Combermere Barracks, helping provide vital career and wellbeing advice to serving members of the Armed Forces. This is just a snapshot of some of the work we’ve been doing to ensure that the Armed Forces community are supported during and after their time in the Armed Forces.

In August 2020, we were proud to receive the Gold Award in the Ministry of Defence’s Employer Recognition Scheme, but this is just the next step on our journey to support the Armed Forces community.

In June 2022 the Royal County of Berkshire Civilian-Military Partnership Board was launched. The purpose of the Board is to ensure appropriate support for the military community (serving personnel, regular and reservists, cadets, their families, and veterans, including from the Commonwealth) serving, living and working in Berkshire.

We have now set up an Armed Forces Veterans’ Hub, which aim to provide a space for veterans to come together and receive advice and support. After starting with a virtual event in November 2020, we have since held in-person meetings at Whitley Wood Fire Station in March 2022, Maidenhead Fire Station in June 2022 and Newbury Fire Station in November 2022 . We hope to continue hosting these events across the county to offer support to our Armed Forces Veterans.