Sky signs Armed Forces Covenant

Sky has today signed the Armed Forces Covenant continuing our commitment to treat fairly those who serve, or have served in the military, and their families. 

The Covenant is a promise from the nation to actively support the Armed Forces Community and ensure they are not disadvantaged in their day-to-day lives.

Sky has a longstanding commitment to provide the Armed Forces with the best of our content through Sky's availability in military bases across the world. We also waive cancellation charges for broadband and media packages when personnel are posted overseas or to another part of the UK.

We actively promote the fact that we are a forces-friendly organisation and by working with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), Sky will seek to support the employment of veterans of all ages to establish a tailored employment pathway for Service Leavers. 

The agreement also sees the launch of our Sky Armed Forces Employee Network, an internal community for serving personnel, veterans and their allies to connect, support and share experiences across our 23,000 UK & Ireland employees.

Speaking at the signing at our Home Service Conference in Leeds, Sky’s Niall MacGinnis, Group Director of Security said: “We are proud to have signed this Covenant as part of our continuing commitment to the Armed Forces and their families. At Sky, we recognise the value of supporting those who have served and currently serve our country and all those connected with the military.

We are proud to call ourselves a forces-friendly organisation and want to support those working with us now, and in the future from the military community.”

Minister for Defence People and Veterans, Tobias Ellwood said: “It’s fantastic to see a leading media organisation like Sky showing their commitment to our armed forces by signing the Covenant. 

“Those who serve, or have served, in Britain’s military are an incredible group of people who have chosen to put the nation before everything else, often placing their own lives in danger so that those of us at home can enjoy a safe and secure environment in which to live, work and trade.

“Veterans, reservists and military spouses and partners have so much to offer and it’s imperative that businesses like Sky support them in the workplace.”

Sky’s pledge:

• Promote the fact that we are a forces-friendly organisation
• Waive cancellation charges for broadband and media packages when Armed Forces personnel are posted overseas or to another part of the UK
• Provide our Armed Forces with the best of our content through Sky’s availability in UK military bases across the world
• Set-up a Armed Forces Employee Network to create a community for those who have served, have family currently serving and allies to connect, support and inspire our people
• Seek to support the employment of veterans young and old and working with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), in order to establish a tailored employment pathway for Service Leavers;
• Strive to support the employment of Service spouses and partners;
• Endeavour to offer a degree of flexibility in granting leave for Service spouses and partners before, during and after a partner’s deployment;
• Offer our employees who choose to be members of the Reserve Forces, five days paid leave for training, and accommodating deployment where possible aiming to actively participate in Armed Forces Day and Armistice Day

By signing this agreement, Sky joins over 3,000 organisations who have pledged to support those who serve, have served and their families.

Press Contact
Sian Parry
Sian.Parry@sky.uk
07585242821

About Sky
With 23.7 million customers across seven countries, Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group.

We have 31,000 colleagues and together we want to connect our customers to more of what they love, including our award-winning original productions, like Patrick Melrose and Save Me, and great shows from our partners including HBO, Showtime and Warner Bros. And our ever-improving technology makes it even easier for customers to watch more of the shows they love with personalised recommendations and voice control and, our online streaming service, NOW TV, brings all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract free service.

We treat our customers better than anyone else in our field, as Ofcom’s complaints data shows, and we look after our staff too. Sky is one of The Times Top 50 employers for women and we’re in Stonewall’s list of Top 50 LGBT-Inclusive employers.

We also use our position as the leading entertainment business in Europe to do the right thing. As part of Sky Ocean Rescue campaign, we’re committing to be completely single-use plastic free by 2020, we’re investing £25million over five years in ocean-saving tech and we’re supporting the WWF to protect our oceans with designated Marine Protected Areas.

About the Armed Forces Covenant

The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise by the nation ensuring that those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, and their families, are treated fairly. More information about the Armed Forces Covenant and how to get involved is at https://www.armedforcescovenant.gov.uk/