Ahead of the publication of Labour’s Defence Housing Strategy, which will be published later this year, Al Carns MP the Minister for Veterans and People visited military homes and met with serving personnel and families alongside local MP Amanda Martin in Hilsea. The Defence Housing Strategy will set out further plans to improve the standard of service family homes across the country. Living conditions for 14,766 families in military housing across South East will begin to be transformed by Labour under a new Consumer Charter, with Defence Secretary John Healey promising to “stop the rot” in military housing.
Amanda Martin MP has previously welcomed the new Charter, which will introduce basic consumer rights for forces families – from essential property information and predictable property standards, to access to a new robust complaints system. These are all changes that the Tories could have put in place but failed to, and will be underpinned by new, published satisfaction figures, putting forces families front and centre.
Labour will use the Defence Housing Strategy – overseen by Defence Secretary John Healey and Minister for Veterans and People Al Carns – to overhaul the standard of military accommodation across the country, after 14 years of Tory underinvestment left forces accommodation in a shameful state.
Under the Tories, satisfaction with the standard of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) fell to record lows in 2023, while the Defence Select Committee reported that two thirds of SFA was ‘essentially no longer fit for purpose’. The Committee found that quality of housing was having a significant impact on Armed Forces recruitment, retention and morale.
This follows the Labour Government’s landmark deal, completed in January, to bring back 36,000 military homes into public ownership, reversing a 1996 sale described by the Public Accounts Committee as “disastrous”, and saving the taxpayer £600,000 per day by eliminating rental payments to a private company. This included over 600 military family homes in Portsmouth.
The Prime Minister has already announced historic defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, and the Labour government has already delivered the largest pay rise for Armed Forces personnel in over 20 years.
Labour’s new Consumer Charter will include the following commitments:
- A strengthened move-in standard so families can have confidence that the home they are moving into will be ready on time and will be clean and functional.
- Improved, clearer information for families ahead of a move, including photographs and floor plans of all homes when a family applies for housing.
- More reliable repairs, including an undertaking to complete urgent repairs within a set timeline consistent with Awaab’s Law, and a new online portal for service personnel to manage repairs.
- Raising the minimum standard of forces family housing with a new programme of works targeted at the worst homes, with up to 1,000 refurbished as a downpayment on the broader programme of renewal to be set out in the Defence Housing Strategy
- Better and clearer communication for families, including a named housing officer for every service family who they can contact for specific housing related queries.
- A new, simpler complaints process that will shorten the process to two stages in line with industry best practice, so that service personnel and families have a quicker resolution, backed up by the new Armed Forces Commissioner.
- Modernising policies to allow more freedom for families to make improvements, giving them a greater sense of pride in their homes.
Amanda Martin MP said:
“It was fantastic to welcome the Minister back to Portsmouth to meet local families and see military housing in Hilsea. The Minister previously served in Portsmouth and lived in local housing so has a real understanding of what it is like to live in military accommodation and the challenges that brings.”
“For too long, military families have endured substandard housing without the basic consumer rights that any of us should expect in our homes. That must end – Labour’s new Consumer Charter will begin to stop the rot and put forces families at the heart of that transformation.”
Veterans and People Minister, Al Carns MP, said:
“Thank you to Amanda and all the local families for meeting with me in Hilsea to share their experiences of living in military homes. For too long, military families have endured substandard housing with limited investment and a lack of a plan for change. That ends now. This Government has invested over £7Bn in Defence Housing and our new Consumer Charter will drive better standards to stop the rot and put families at the heart of that transformation.”
“We cannot turn around years of failure on forces housing overnight, but by bringing 36,000 military homes back into public ownership, we’ve already taken greater control and are working at pace to drive up standards. This is about providing homes fit for the heroes who serve our nation, and I’m determined to deliver the decent, affordable housing that our forces families have every right to expect.”
These improvements will be in place by the one-year anniversary of the announcement to buy back military homes last December, with final detail to be set out in the Defence Housing Strategy following consultation with military personnel and their families.
Many of the commitments in the Charter will be achieved by driving better performance – and better value for the taxpayer – from existing suppliers of maintenance and support for service family housing.
The new standards will be underpinned by new published customer satisfaction measures and enhanced accountability so families can have confidence in the improvements being made. This will sit alongside an independently conducted stock survey, as recommended by the Kerslake review of military housing which was published last year.
The Defence Housing Strategy will be driven by an independent review team, and which will be chaired by former Member of Parliament and housing expert Natalie Elphicke Ross OBE, drawing on expertise from industry and forces families.
The Strategy will also turbocharge the development of surplus military land, creating opportunities for Armed Forces homeownership and supporting the delivery of affordable homes for families across Britain as part of the government’s Plan for Change.
In the meantime, the Defence Secretary and the Minister for Veterans and People have instructed the MOD to immediately plan improvements for the new Consumer Charter, as part of a short-term action plan to enhance the family homes after years of neglect.
