Northumbria University, Newcastle, has received a Silver Award under the Ministry of Defence’s National Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS).
The prestigious award comes a year after Northumbria became the first university in the North East to sign up to the Armed Forces Covenant, and recognises the major contribution being made to the Defence People agenda. The ERS was launched in 2014 by the Prime Minister to recognise employer support for the wider principles of the Armed Forces Covenant. It encompasses bronze, silver and gold awards for employers that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to Defence and the Armed Forces community.
Lucy Winskell OBE DL, Pro Vice Chancellor Employability and Partnerships at Northumbria, said: “Last year we were the first university in the North East to sign up to the Armed Forces Covenant, and to receive the Silver Award within a year is something the University is extremely proud of. We recognise the contribution and sacrifice made by members of the Armed Forces community, and have pledged to support our service personnel, veterans and their families. This award also reflects our commitment and support for colleagues who both work at Northumbria and serve in the Reserve Forces and Cadet Forces.”
Commenting on the announcement of the 2018 Employer Recognition Scheme Silver awards, Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans, the Rt Hon Tobias Ellwood MP said: “I am delighted to congratulate the recipients of this year’s Employer Recognition Scheme Silver awards. A Silver award recognises the fantastic efforts of employers throughout the UK who have both elevated their commitments under the Armed Forces Covenant and provided actual benefit to the Armed Forces Community. The winners should all be proud of the life-changing impact and fresh opportunities they are providing to our Reservists, veterans, wounded injured and sick and their families. We’ve seen a record number of winners this year, which shows that the Armed Forces family talent pool is also providing tangible business benefit.”
Jamie Carrahar, Senior Lecturer at Newcastle Business School and Army Reservist with 3 Army Education Centre in Catterick added: “The Silver Award recognises Northumbria University’s commitment to support the Armed Forces Community. This is in part due to the commitment offering additional leave to members of the Reserve Forces, Cadet Forces and Service Families when required through to recognising the skills and experience of service personnel and veterans to gain advanced standing to programmes of study. On behalf of the Armed Forces Community at Northumbria, I thank the University Executive for their continued support and recognition of the sacrifice the Armed Forces Community make.”
Northumbria has one of the leading multi-disciplinary teams, the Northern Hub for Veterans and Military Families Research, dedicated to translational research on the health and wellbeing of the Armed Forces Community. Since 2015, the Northern Hub has received over £1m of research funding from a variety of sources including the Royal British Legion, the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust and Sunderland City Council. Research projects cover a broad range of topics including veterans and alcohol problems, older limbless veterans, health and social care service provision and evaluation, women veterans, families and training. Translational research is at the core of the Northern Hub and a recent project looking at why veterans are reluctant to access help for alcohol problems has led to the development and evaluation of a ‘hub and spoke’ model for integrated service provision. Additionally, the Veterans and Families Directory of Services (VFDS), a free-to-access GIS software application of support services for veterans and their families has been developed to support health and social care staff, third sector workers and to enable evidence-based decision making for both Government and service providers in the future.
