The Scottish Chambers of Commerce, Dunbartonshire Chamber of Commerce and Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce were all recipients of Silver Awards on behalf of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) in the last quarter of 2018.

The ERS, which is operated by the Ministry of Defence, is designed to reward organisations which have demonstrated amongst other things a commitment to not unfairly disadvantaging service personnel or members of the Armed Forces when recruiting and have signed the Armed Forces Covenant.

The Defence Employer Recognition Scheme was established in 2014 to recognise and reward UK employers for their support and commitment to Defence. The scheme was a commitment made in the July 2013 Government White Paper ‘Reserves in the Future Forces 2020’.

Silver Award holders show their support for Defence by actively communicating a positive image of Defence to their employees via established HR policies and procedures. They also support Reservists by giving them flexibility to plan and meet their annual training and mobilisation commitments.

The ERS Silver awards reward employers which employ and support those who serve, both the veterans and their families – typically by putting in place initiatives that make it easier to employ veterans, helping ex-forces personnel to move into a civilian career or supporting Armed Forces Reservists to train and mobilise whilst on active service. All ERS Silver award winners are vocal supporters of the Armed Forces community in Scotland.

Damon Scott, Chief Executive, Dunbartonshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “Our partnership with the Armed Forces is an important part of our activities and we are delighted that our efforts thus far have been rewarded with the Silver Award. This recognition embeds the relationship further and we look forward to continuing to communicate the benefits that both reservists and veterans can offer to business.”