- More than £1.5 billion extra for forces family housing means more than £7 billion to be spent on military accommodation in this Parliament, tackling the poor state of forces accommodation across the country.
- Record investment builds on the new Defence Consumer Charter to transform living conditions for military families after landmark deal to bring 36,347 homes back into public ownership.
- New funding will support urgent repairs and long-term renewal of military housing across the nations and regions of the UK.
Thousands of British military personnel and their families will have their lives improved through more than £1.5 billion of additional funding to improve accommodation for the UK Armed Forces.
The investment will be confirmed as part of the launch of the Government’s upcoming Strategic Defence Review (SDR), helping renew the nation’s contract with those who serve, supporting the government’s Plan for Change.
Through the upcoming SDR more than £1.5 billion of new investment into service family accommodation will unlock rapid work to tackle the poor state of forces housing – with investment increasing from this year – helping to support recruitment, retention and morale.
This will include urgent repairs and maintenance, from fixing unreliable boilers and leaky roofs to tackling damp and mould in service family accommodation, alongside development of new forces housing, as part of unlocking the wider potential for housing development on surplus MOD land.
The additional funding for accommodation means more than £7 billion will be spent across this Parliament on service family accommodation and new build single living accommodation to deliver a generational renewal of Armed Forces accommodation. This will be guided by the forthcoming Defence Housing Strategy – which is proceeding at pace and has already seen the announcement of a new Consumer Charter to strengthen housing standards for forces families.
The SDR will set a path for the next decade to transform defence and make the UK secure at home and strong abroad. It will end the hollowing out of our Armed Forces and make defence an engine for growth across the UK.
Defence Secretary, John Healey MP said:
Our Armed Forces personnel make extraordinary sacrifices to serve our country.
For too long, many military families have lived in sub-standard homes, but this government is taking decisive action to fix the dire state of military accommodation and ensure that our heroes and their loved ones live in the homes they deserve.
We are investing and acting fast, to fix forces housing and renew the nation’s contract with those who serve and deliver on our Plan for Change.
The delivery of the Government’s new Consumer Charter will see immediate investment in urgent renovation of 1,000 homes in most need of repair. The Charter will also see basic consumer rights rapidly introduced for forces families, including essential property information and higher move-in standards, more reliable repairs, a named housing officer for every family, and access to a robust complaints system – helping to deliver homes fit for our heroes.
The record investment follows the Government’s landmark deal to bring back 36,000 military homes into public ownership, as part of the Prime Minister’s pledge to deliver home fit for heroes.
The SDR will say that the Ministry of Defence should improve the overall standard of military accommodation, including prioritising sites that are in most urgent need of repair. The Terms of Reference for the Review committed to put ‘Defence personnel…at the heart of Defence’s plans.’
The announcement comes alongside another above-inflation pay rise for the Armed Forces, announced by the Government last week. This is the second inflation busting pay rise awarded by the Government since last July, with last year’s award representing the biggest pay rise for Armed Forces personnel in over 20 years.
