PRESS RELEASE : Defence announces New Accommodation Offer for Armed Forces personnel [September 2023]

The press release issued by the Ministry of Defence on 19 September 2023.

New accommodation offer announced to modernise accommodation entitlements to Armed Forces personnel.

A new accommodation offer to revolutionise housing for service personnel and their families was announced by the Ministry of Defence today.

The offer, which will be the biggest change to Armed Forces housing for a generation and available from March 2024, will modernise accommodation entitlements, improve the standard of Single Living Accommodation and provide a framework to update overseas accommodation.

The development and design of this new offer, which delivers on recommendations in the Haythornthwaite Review and the Defence Command Paper refresh has been informed by research and engagement with service personnel and their families, including learnings from a three-year pilot.

Minister for Defence, People, Veterans and Service Families, Andrew Murrison MP said:

“As the Defence Command Paper Refresh made clear, our serving personnel are critical to the effectiveness of our Armed Forces.

“Today’s announcement will ensure that our Defence Accommodation policy continues to meet the needs of today’s armed forces community offering greater flexibility for those that serve.”

Following the successful pilot, the New Accommodation Offer will include:

• Needs-based allocation of family accommodation, which will allocate housing based on the size of the immediate family instead of rank.
• Service personnel registered as being in an established long-term relationship will be entitled to accommodation on the same basis as those who are married or in a civil partnership.
• Parents who have children with a main home elsewhere can access service family accommodation, providing the children visit for more than 80 nights a year.
• More flexibility for service personnel to request the type of home that works for their family, allowing them to access homes above or below their entitlement.
• Improved standards in Single Living Accommodation with a minimum standard for Single Living Accommodation agreed across the estate.
• In addition to the Forces Help to Buy which offers support to first time buyers to buy a home, a permanent part of our accommodation policy, the New Accommodation Offer will provide further support for Service personnel becoming first time buyers, refunding up to £1,500 of their legal expenses.
• Providing financial support for weekly commuters who are maintaining a primary home elsewhere irrespective of age or marital status.

The Ministry of Defence is also committed to learning from the New Accommodation Offer to improve the overseas accommodation offer for service personnel.

The department is already looking at how we can implement the New Accommodation Offer overseas, including pilots of needs-based accommodation at selected locations.

As part of these improvements, overseas accommodation policy will be separated from UK policy to make it easier to understand and consider the different realities of living in other countries (such as where air conditioning is more important than loft insulation).