RNR CODC Module 5 Handbook

1.15 THE COMMANDING OFFICERS’ DUTY OF CARE TOWARDS RESERVISTS
As an employer, the MOD has care and welfare obligations for all recruits and trainees in its charge; this duty has legal, moral and
presentational components. The expression used to describe the moral component is Supervisory Care. Supervisory Care entails
the provision of an appropriate military, pastoral and welfare regime that goes beyond the mere delivery of military, technical or
specialist training and/or education, and includes the inculcation of professional military ethos.
It also includes the need for recruits and trainees to be mentored by suitable military and/or civilian staff, and recognises the
particular vulnerabilities associated with initial training and the transition from a civilian to a trained member of the military and from
youth to adult.
Commanding Officers of training establishments are directly responsible and accountable for ensuring an effective Supervisory
Care regime is established for the recruits, trainees, cadets, Under 18s (U18s), Vulnerable Adults and other students within their
establishments. Such regimes must be all-embracing and should include all training as well as other activities related to training.
Duty of Care to Under 18s
Commanding Officers are responsible for the care of all Service personnel under their command and are accountable accordingly.
This is referred to as their ‘duty of care,’ and is the obligation to exercise such a degree of care towards an individual, as is
reasonable in all the circumstances, to ensure their wellbeing and that of their property. Breach of the duty of care will give rise to
legal liability for loss or damage suffered in consequence. Duty of care also includes statutory duties as set out at Section 2 of the
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which states that it is the duty of “every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably
practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.”
RNR CODC HANDBOOK MODULE 5 » SECTION 8 » UNIT 1.15 25