Peabody signs Armed Forces Covenant with pledge to support military community
We have signed the Armed Forces Covenant, pledging our support to veterans, serving personnel and military families living and working in our communities.
Published: 09/09/2026
As one of the UK's largest and oldest housing associations, we provide homes for more than 220,000 residents. We signed the Covenant at a ceremony at the RAF Club in London's Piccadilly on Monday 7 September.
Among the guests present for the signing were Calvin Bailey MBE, Member of Parliament for Leyton and Wanstead and Minister for Veterans and People; Peter Baffoe, Vice Chair of our Board; Elly Hoult, our Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive; and Air Vice-Marshal Ranald Munro CB CBE TD VR DL ADC, Directing Staff, Royal College of Defence Studies.
The Covenant is a national pledge that people who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect and should not be disadvantaged because of their service. For us, the signing also marks the start of a new chapter in our connection with the Armed Forces stretching back more than 150 years.
Around 3,000 men living on Peabody estates served during the First World War, with around 400 losing their lives. George Peabody, the philanthropic American financier who founded our organisation in 1862, himself served in the United States military as a young man, while many of the estate superintendents who looked after Peabody communities in years gone by were former servicemen.
Today, veterans, reservists and military families continue to be part of the communities we serve and our workforce.
To build on that relationship, we are looking at how we can create better routes into housing careers for people leaving the Armed Forces, recognise the skills and experience they bring, and support veteran-led businesses through our supply chain.
Through Peabody Community Foundation and our wider community partnerships, we will also explore how the experience of former service personnel could support mentoring, volunteering, community projects and local leadership.
Elly Hoult, our Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive, said: "This means a great deal to me personally as the wife of someone serving in the Armed Forces, and it's also an important commitment for Peabody.
"Veterans, serving personnel and military families are part of the communities we serve. We want to make sure they are treated fairly, but I think there's an opportunity to go much further than that.
"People leaving the Armed Forces bring an enormous range of skills and experience. They have led teams, solved difficult problems, worked in engineering and technical roles and supported others. Those skills have real value in housing and in our communities.
"There's a long connection between Peabody and the Armed Forces. Signing the Covenant is the start of building on that history to think about what that relationship should look like today and in the future.
"We want to explore better routes into housing careers, opportunities for veteran-led businesses and ways people with military experience can get involved in their local communities. We're at the beginning of that work and we're keen to learn from the Armed Forces community about where we can make the biggest difference."
Air Vice-Marshal Ranald Munro, Directing Staff, Royal College of Defence Studies, commented: “A public pledge like this confirms that Armed Forces members are appreciated by the organisation and can always expect fair treatment - which is critical for anyone serving or who has served, Regular or Reserve.
“It was an honour to co-sign the Armed Forces Covenant with Peabody and I hope that our partnership can assist in raising awareness about the benefits of employing service individuals and military families, as well as demonstrating the broad range of skills, ethos and values they can bring to a civilian working setting.”
The Armed Forces Covenant covers serving personnel, regulars and reservists, veterans, their families and the bereaved.
By signing, we join thousands of organisations across the UK that have made a commitment to recognise and support the Armed Forces community.
