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Government’s duty of care towards service personnel and their families will become legally binding for the first time The military covenant is to be recognised in law, legally binding the government to a duty of care for members of the armed forces and their families, a defence minister has said. A government statement is expected on Monday but it is unclear whether the covenant will include specific pledges. The defence minister Andrew Robathan, who is steering the legisation through the House of Commons, told the Daily Telegraph : “We are putting the military covenant on a statutory basis for the first time.” David Cameron, the prime minister, had been accused of backing away from a pledge to give the armed forces “a new military covenant that’s written into the law of the land”. The covenant is an agreement under which the state pledges a duty of care toward its military personnel in return for the sacrifices they make. At present it is not legally binding. Prior to forming government, David Cameron set up a review that he suggested would set out commitments on issues such as compensation, care for injured troops and the education of children of service personnel. But when the government published the Armed Forces Bill, which is now going through Parliament, it only required the defence secretary to issue a report on the state of the covenant. The Royal British Legion described the legisation as “pretty depressing”. Concerns over the government’s legal liability are thought to have prompted the formulation in the bill. Its passage has now been delayed. The Conservative backbencher Philip Hollobone has tabled an amendment creating formal recognition of the covenant. The Telegraph said the law would not enshrine specific pledges about individual public services but concentrate on broader principles – such as that no one should be disadvantaged because of their military service, and also that special treatment could sometimes be justified. The shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, said: “The prime minister appears to have finally done the right thing. If true, this is a retreat from a inevitable defeat in parliament in the face of real anger from forces families and MPs. “We will now wait to hear the detail and will want to ensure that the principles of the covenant are being properly set out in law.” At Commons question time this month Cameron denied watering down his commitment. “I do not believe for a minute that that is what is being done. What is going to happen is that we are going to clearly reference the covenant in law and then the covenant will be published and debated in this house every year,” he told MPs. “It is vital that we are able to update and improve it every year, because our military personnel face so many changing circumstances.” A government spokesman said: “Discussions are ongoing and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.” The covenant was codified in 2000 but not made law. It states soldiers will be called upon to make sacrifices, including the ultimate sacrifice of laying down their lives. In return they and their families can expect fair treatment and to be sustained and rewarded. Officially it only applies to the army. But its core principles are taken to also cover members of the air force and navy. Military Defence policy David Batty guardian.co.uk