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Rap Interiors is proud to announce it has signed a Military Covenant that supports the fair treatment of those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces.

The Covenant is a national responsibility involving government, businesses, local authorities, charities and the public. Organisations are asked to support demonstrate their support for that national promise by signing their own Covenant to uphold the following principles:

  • No member of the Armed Forces community should face disadvantage in the provision of public and commercial services compared to any other citizen.
  • In some circumstances, special treatment may be appropriate, especially for the injured or bereaved.

Employers are recognised by the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, which is based on three levels of support: bronze, silver and gold. Rap Interiors currently holds the bronze award, which is for employers who have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and stated their intent to support defence personnel.

To sigh the Covenant, the Rap team recently went to an event at the Rift Group offices in Ashford. Here, Rap Director Martyn Pilcher signed the covenant and got the chance to meet some military personnel, who kindly said a few words about the scheme:

“If your firm signs up to the covenant what you’re doing is acknowledging that members of the armed forces – particularly the army reserves – will work within your area of expertise and that you will support them in their military careers that will run alongside their civilian careers.

“The covenant is very much a two-way street. So, we would ask you to support them, release them for training, make sure that they get the time off to go on the two-week annual training exercise which they’re required to do each year. And of course you get something back.  The army is very good at training people to be more confident, be more self-aware. It instinctively builds in contingency planning; that’s something they learn at a very early age.

“There’s a saying in the army that no plan survives contact with the enemy, so at a very early age you’re taught to think ‘what if, what when’. So, contingency planning is something that they learn at a very early age and civilian firms like that.

“The other thing that we find with employers is that they greatly appreciate that soldiers learn to make decisions and own those decisions. They aren’t afraid to make decisions and do so without supervision or minimal supervision or direction – i.e. understanding what’s required and then acting on the ground. We know that employers like that.

“And then there’s also the transferable skills from writing risk assessments to delivering first aid training – all of which can be transferred across into employment, so it’s a proper two-way street. I think it’s to everyone’s benefit to buy into the covenant.”

Dean Goldsmith, Captain

“One of the other big attributes that you will find with the ex-serving individuals is the values and standards they hold. That is something that is taught and promoted within the forces quite readily so things like integrity, discipline, courage, selfless commitment; those sort of things that make individuals very good citizens but also things that would be worthwhile to all organisations regardless of what you do.”

Major Tony Panayi

Following the Covenant signing, Rap Interiors is looking forward to supporting the military personnel who bravely serve our country. And who knows, Rap may even welcome someone from the Armed Forces into its team in the near future. You can keep up to date with Rap’s progress via the news section here.